


The Imaginary Number

by enigmaticEditor



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/F, Gen, Happy Ending, Multi, POV Second Person, Roxas is Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Suicidal Thoughts, Trans Female Character, Trans Xion (Kingdom Hearts), What-If, along with just. general poly vibes all around because that's how i do, and also it makes so much more sense fight me nomura, because sometimes you need slightly fewer of these little blonde bitches, but no more than what was probably going through her mind in 358/2, god knows xion deserves it, her canon ending was alright but like... hold my beer, let's be real that's canon, not sure why it just manifested that way and i couldn't stop it, the sorikai is not the focus but is definitely there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-11-28 19:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20971973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticEditor/pseuds/enigmaticEditor
Summary: That penultimate boss fight in 358/2 Days sure was a pain, huh. What if Xion had won it, and taken over as Sora's Nobody?In which I reach into KH canon and swap a few wires around (and cram a few new wires in) to make things just a little bit better. Mostly for Xion, but for everyone else too.





	1. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the 2nd person puts you off, good news! There's now a 3rd person version [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22097491/). I personally believe this version is superior and fits the theme of the story better, but I also know that I'd probably skip right past a random AO3 fic in 2nd person if I hadn't been the one to write it.

You weren’t supposed to win. 

With what little control you had, you’d stayed your hand at critical moments. Moved just a little slower than Xemnas wanted. Telegraphed every attack, hoping Roxas would be smart enough to dodge. 

He’d lasted a long time. But your power had only just begun to wane, and his was exhausted. Back at the clock tower, in a monstrous armored form, you watched helplessly as Xemnas seized full control and struck down your friend. He fell, his body breaking on the flagstones. Screaming within the prison of your own mind, you saw him begin to disintegrate. Like all Nobodies. Like all the Dusks you’d slain. But there was something different this time. As Roxas’s body crumbled into scraps of shadow, something bright and shimmering left his form and spiraled into the sky… and then towards you, as if caught in a gravity well. 

It was unmistakable. It was a _heart_. 

He’d had a heart. 

HE’D HAD A HEART. 

Rage consumed you in the same instant that Roxas’s heart joined… _yours_. Your heart. You had one too. Of course you did. How could anyone have suffered as you had without a heart? 

The full power of the Keyblade hero swept through your form and broke the chains on your mind. Xemnas took his leave without a single attempt to fight back, releasing the marionette strings. Free of his control, his assumptions, you folded back in on yourself and landed hard at the base of the clock tower. Where Roxas had vanished. For an instant, you were yourself again. A slim, black-haired girl. The _real_ you. But then you were Roxas. And then, for a horrible moment, Sora again. And then… someone else? Almost Roxas, but… 

You pulled your hood over your face to stop the madness. You had no face now. You didn’t deserve one. You’d just killed the only person you’d had left. 

You stared into the horizon, into the perpetual sunset of this world. On your mind, and in the heart you now knew yourself to have, was vengeance. Nothing more, nothing less. But your target wasn’t the Organization. Not yet. First… Kingdom Hearts. Destroy it. Or absorb it. Maybe even become powerful enough to bring him back. To fix everything. 

You extended a hand, the corridor opening to your call. You stepped through. 

  


Powerful enemies flocked to you the moment you arrived. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow, yes? You weren’t sure if someone had said that to you or Roxas or Sora. It was all jumbled together, your memories, their memories, your current emotions, the terror and fear and hurt Roxas had felt during your duel, Sora’s constant whirlwind of feelings, the last stronger than anything you or Roxas had ever experienced. 

You slew the shadows besetting you in moments, and only after did you realize you were wielding two Keyblades. And neither of them was the Kingdom Key. 

In your left hand was a beacon of light, winged and starry. Your heart told you it was connected to Kairi, though your brain told you the blade was the one you’d stolen from Roxas. Kairi… the girl whose face you’d taken as your own. You supposed you should be grateful to her. Being who you are would have been so much harder if you’d only had male faces in your memory to work with. Unintentionally or not, you’d taken her features and vivid blue eyes and fused them with Sora’s darker complexion. You weren’t sure where your midnight black hair had come from. Maybe that was something unique to you, proof that despite everything you’d been your own person all along. 

In your right hand was a grim weapon, trailing smoke and violet sparks. Your heart told you it had to do with Riku, the boy who… he’d been kind, in a way. But he’d pressured you to return to Sora. That talk with him… it was when everything really started to go wrong. When you began to realize that the universe didn’t want you around, that you didn’t deserve to exist. At first, you’d rejected that. You’d chosen your friends over some boy you’d only seen in memories. But as time wore on, and you began to lose control… Nobodies are resilient, but it wore you down. You weren’t sure when you gained a heart, or if you’d had one all along. Either way, your second encounter with Riku was when it had started to break, and now it lay in pieces. The razor-sharp splinters dug into your chest with every breath you took. 

Your mind told you that this jagged, brutal Key was yours now. Fitting. 

More shadows came after you, larger and stronger in waves, and you cut a swath through them effortlessly. You battled your way through this world that never was until you came to a plaza below a skyscraper. Not far, now. 

You didn’t expect him, but he was ready for you. Or at least, for someone. The boy who blinded himself, lest he open his eyes to see only darkness. 

“Xion,” said Riku. “You need to come with me.” 

“After,” you growled in a voice that wasn’t your own, and shoved him aside. You took a few steps, but suddenly he was in front of you again. You blinked. 

“If you go to them, to Kingdom Hearts, they’ll break you. Enslave you. They’ll have everything. And my friend will never wake up.” 

“I’ll kill them all. And I don’t give a _damn_ about your friend.” 

He looked taken aback. You weren’t surprised. Last time you’d spoken, you’d been only too willing to fade away. But that was then, and this was now. You’d lost too much to give up what little you had left. If you went now, there’d be no one you cared about left to forget you. Except perhaps... no. You had failed to do what she asked. 

You walked past him again, and then his voice rang out. “What about Axel?” 

You stopped, your heart suddenly heavy in your chest. You were beginning to hate having a heart. “What _about_ Axel?” 

Riku’s sightless gaze burned into you. “Are you going to destroy him too?” 

“…None of your business.” You didn’t know the answer to that. It hurt too much to think about Axel. He might have already been turned into a Dusk for letting you escape twice, for all you knew. 

“He’s your friend. You’d kill him? Or worse, you’d force him to watch you suffer even more?” 

“Shut up, Riku.” You clenched your teeth. 

The Organization imposter continued. “I guess Nobodies really are heartless.” 

You whirled around. “Shut,” you raised your twin Keyblades, _“UP.”_ You brought them down, and the clang of his parry reverberated throughout the empty city. The rain began to fall harder as the two of you slashed and dodged and weaved, neither able to gain an upper hand. As ever, Riku was a match for Sora’s power. 

You fought like a wild beast. When he tore one of the Keyblades from your hand- the white and golden weapon of light- you felt something inside you break. Your friend hadn’t been quite gone. There had been a little whisper in your head. You hadn’t been alone. 

Now you were, and it was terrible. 

Riku tossed his own Keyblade aside, and the two of you circled each other. You shook with fury, looking for the slightest opening. “I’m sorry,” the boy muttered. He didn’t seem to be speaking to you. “I know. It’s my fault. I’ll stop her. Whatever it takes. If you care about her, help me.” 

How _dare_ he? “GIVE HIM BACK!” 

You lunged. Suddenly Riku was gone, and you were crossing blades with Roxas once again. He looked as miserable as you felt. When he spoke, it was Riku’s voice, but you knew it was Roxas. No one but another Nobody could sound as lifeless as that. “Xion. Please, stop.” 

You let your Keyblade drop, the grey hilt slipping out of your hand. It splashed into a puddle before vanishing. 

You fell to your knees and howled. It was a horrid noise, full of rage and despair. The puppet was malfunctioning again, that’s all. Any moment now, Riku would put you out of your misery. You found it hard to care. 

“Xion.” 

You looked up. 

“Take it. It’s yours, isn’t it?” The question didn’t seem to be rhetorical. 

You snatched the proffered Keyblade out of his hand. “No,” you hissed. “It’s _his_.” The whisper returned. “It belongs to Roxas.” 

“It belongs with Sora. As do you.” 

“…Will I be happy? With him?” 

“I can’t say. I’m sorry.” And you knew he meant that. 

The fight drained out of you. You didn’t care anymore. The conviction you’d felt before your battle with Roxas didn’t return. You didn’t _want_ to disappear. But you no longer had the energy to fight the tides of fate. 

“…Lead the way.” 

  


Oh. It was her. 

Naminé had been good company, in the brief time you’d known her. The pale, almost ethereal girl was the first person who had seen you, the real you, right from the beginning. She’d even known you were a puppet, a Replica, and she’d had the clear sight and the kindness to cast aside her preconceived notions and see what was really there. She had been honest, unlike so many others in your short life. 

And you’d failed her. 

“I’m sorry,” you croaked out, but she lifted a hand. 

"It’s alright,” she said, in that oh-so-gentle voice of hers. “It wasn’t your fault. None of this was your fault, and you deserve better. But a happy ending for you, Xion, is beyond my power to give. I can grant you… something else, something we planned to use to keep Roxas occupied until I was done sorting out Sora’s memories. DiZ is working on adjusting it to suit you.” 

As if summoned by his name, the bandaged man walked in. He glanced dismissively at you and Naminé. You’d only spoken to him once, but he clearly hadn’t been fond of Nobodies. And certainly not anyone impeding Sora’s recovery. You’d gotten the sense that Naminé didn’t like him very much, either, but relied on him to keep her safe while she worked on restoring the proper hero of the Keyblade. You idly wondered whether he’d care what happened to her after Sora woke up. 

“_DiZ_ is done. It’s finished throwing a tantrum, then?” he asked. You bristled, sparks of anger coming back to you. Saïx and Xemnas had called you _it_ too. So often that you had even begun to believe it yourself. But now, as your time was running out, you at least knew who you were. Who Xion was, underneath all the tangled memories. 

You were a _girl,_ dammit. Not _it_, and definitely not _he._ Unlike everything else about your ludicrous existence, it really wasn’t that complex. 

Too tired to protest, you were just going to let it be. But someone else came to your defense. “She,” said Naminé, pausing ever so slightly after the pronoun, “is ready, yes. Please, DiZ, let me handle this.” 

DiZ rolled his one visible eye and sauntered off somewhere. You were too busy staring at Naminé to watch his exit. The strangest thought occurred to you: when Sora woke up, he’d _better_ thank this girl. And, preferably, see her again once he was done gallivanting around the worlds. Frequently, too. 

You shook your head to clear it. Naminé led you down the halls of the mansion, finally stopping before a strange computer. She gestured to where you should stand, and you did so without a word. She moved to the controls. 

“Think of it as… a vacation.” 

“A vacation,” you repeated dully. You’d had a vacation once. 

“In the simulation, you’ll be… normal. A normal kid, with normal friends. You won’t remember any of this. And when Sora is ready, we’ll pull you out, and you can join him.” 

You heard yourself say, “Will you be there?” 

Naminé looked surprised, and then smiled her soft smile. “No. I’m sorry.” 

“_Could_ you be there?” 

She bit her lip. You knew she wasn’t happy here. The way DiZ treated her wasn’t much better than the way he treated you. And even if it was just a copy of herself… shouldn’t _some_ version of Naminé get to be happy? 

Slowly, the witch of memory shook her head. “Who I am… what I am… even in data form, I’d remember everything. It wouldn’t work.” She sighed. “I wish it would. Forgetting would be easier. I’d hoped to forget about you.” 

You recoiled as if struck, and her eyes went wide. For the first time, her voice came out rapid and panicked. “No, no, I meant… I didn’t…” 

As you watched, tears began to bead in her eyes. You were shocked, and then you remembered. Nobodies can have hearts. Of course Naminé had one. “I remember… everything,” she choked out. “I don’t just manipulate memory, I _become_ it. I can’t escape it. Everything you and Sora and Roxas and Riku have suffered… I know it, and I can’t forget it. Not for a second. It’s horrible of me, but I was hoping… that just once, I wouldn’t have to remember.” 

Oh. 

“It’s okay,” you said, even though you were learning that until just now there had been some parts of your heart that hadn’t broken yet. “I’m… I’m ready.” You weren’t. 

Kairi’s Nobody looked away and started typing. She had an expression of intense concentration, though you weren’t sure if it was actually needed for the task or if she was just trying to distract herself. A few seconds later, she was done, and gave you a long, sad inspection. But all she saw, you realized, was a blank hooded figure. 

“Wait,” you said. Naminé paused, hand over the controls. There was one final thing you wanted to do. You really hoped it would work. 

Lifting your hands, you threw back your hood. For a terrible instant, your form blurred, and then to your immeasurable relief it settled. 

You were _Xion_. At this last moment, whether it was through your own strength or through Naminé’s belief in you, your appearance had returned to what you wanted it to be. Your striking blue eyes met Naminé’s paler ones and you managed to smile for the first time since you’d last seen her. But now you were going away. Oblivion, though a different sort than you’d been prepared for. At least you had something to look forward to this time, but the cost had been too great. Poor Roxas. 

You gave the other girl a nod. Blinking away her tears, Naminé pressed the last button. You felt yourself deconstructing, your physical form being encoded and destroyed. But at least it was _your_ form. You kept your eyes on her until they, too, vanished, and you were left floating in darkness without a body to call your own. 

Your last thought was that having a heart was _awful_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did my absolute best to not get distracted from my main project. And considering this was mostly one night's work and I'm still on schedule for said project, I'll forgive myself for the lapse. Sometimes you have to get something out of your head before it kills you. 
> 
> Don't worry about Roxas, I have a place in the story for him. I don't know exactly when I'll post the next part, but it _will_ happen. When I commit to something I don't mess around. This whole thing is planned out, and it isn't long. The second chapter will cover II and DDD, and the third will cover III. The last scene is already done and it's probably my favorite thing I've ever written.
> 
> Oh, and [this](https://zoeshi-bug.tumblr.com/post/186659327896/u-ever-just-love-a-character-with-ur-whole-entire) has been my Xion appearance headcanon since I first saw it a couple months back. Now I keep getting surprised when I see canon images of Xion and remember that in the games she's only marginally less pale than Naminé, if at all. Well, the purpose of this _is_ to improve on canon, after all.


	2. Midnight

You dreamed of a red-headed girl, a bit younger than you, and of a brown-haired boy the same age. Both looked kind of like you. A silver-haired boy was there too, but whether he was friend or foe, you couldn’t quite ascertain. The girl was hurt, and the taller boy was wielding a weapon of some kind, and then everything went dark… 

And you woke up. “Just once,” you said to yourself, “I’d like to get a decent night’s sleep.” 

You shifted to sit up in your bed and drew aside a curtain to look out the window. Keeping it shut, you thought about the things you saw when you closed your eyes as you watched the reddish light refract in the glass. 

Often, in your dreams, you weren’t you. You looked out from behind the brown-haired boy’s eyes. And other times, from those of a different, blonde-haired boy. The latter were always the visions that left you waking up with a headache because of how confused they were. Sometimes you even saw yourself, alongside a tall man with flaming hair. You weren’t sure whether that descriptor was literal or not. 

But every now and then, interrupting the sequences where you were the blonde boy… things grew fuzzy and an entirely new set of faces ran through your mind. A bulky brown-haired man and a lithe blue-haired woman, both taller than you. “You,” in this case, being that very same blonde boy. This was all very odd, like the boy was the same actor playing two roles. But after all, they were dreams. Every now and then you saw utter nonsense, like giant mutated animals wearing clothes and floating blue men in a world of sand. 

You’d considered trying to write down the things you saw, once. It might help you get them in order. But when you’d looked around for pens and some paper, you couldn’t seem to find any… and then you’d just gotten distracted, you guessed. You got distracted a lot, too. Your friends sometimes had to physically shake you out of spells where your mind wandered so far away you felt like you might be about to find yourself again from the opposite direction. 

And you had weird thoughts like _that_ all the time. You sighed. Your friends seemed cheerful enough, constantly planning some new escapade or prank. You liked being around them, you really did, but where did they get the energy? You were always tired even though you felt like you spent half your life asleep. But they were, invariably, glad to see you. Why? What about your lackluster company did they enjoy? 

Hauling yourself out of bed, you started getting dressed. Long sleeved shirt, light gloves, full length pants, vest. All black or gray. You didn’t much like showing skin, and some days you wanted a hood to bring over your face, too. You wished the dark clothes would let you hide in shadowy places if you wanted, but no matter how hard you tried to vanish, people always seemed to spot you and drag you somewhere before you could stew in your own thoughts for too long. 

You slunk off to meet your friends. You vaguely recalled having plans today, insofar as there was a today in this town of endless sunset. 

  


You met Hayner, Pence, and Olette in the usual place. They started jabbering away and you sat on a box and zoned out. 

What had you done yesterday? What were you going to do tomorrow? Why did those feel like the same question but with different answers? 

“Hey. Hey Xion!” You started. It was Olette. “We’re going now! Come with us. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten? It's beach day!” 

You had, actually, which seemed bizarre. You’d been looking forward to it, hadn’t you spent all that time working to save money for it? Wait. What had you done? You couldn’t quite recall… 

“Xion! Come on!” Hayner gave you a friendly shove, and you stood up hurriedly. 

“Sorry, I…” 

You stopped. How did you tell your friends that sometimes you had the uneasy feeling that you were the only real person in Twilight Town… and that you weren’t sure that even _you_ were real? They’d be insulted, or at least, think you were crazy. 

Maybe they’d be right. 

  


It turned into a horrible day. Or was it multiple days? You couldn’t be sure, in the haze. You’d lost the train money. It had been stolen by some stranger in a black coat, and no one else had seen him. You might as well have told them that you didn’t think they were real, you already sounded crazy. 

Things were getting stranger. Sometimes the world around you would freeze, and you’d be in either darkness or bright white light. Your memory blanked, and when you found yourself back in the place where you’d been when the world had frozen, you felt exhausted. Like you been running. Sometimes your hands tried to reach for things that weren’t there, things that they knew _should_ be there, and you only got more confused. 

While walking down the street with your friends, you spotted a girl in white watching you from a rooftop nearby. You stopped and stared. Something in your chest hurt when you saw her… your heart? Why did that seem like such a strange idea to you? 

There was the sound of footsteps on the paved pathway. “Hey.” It was Pence. He’d ran back to fetch you. 

You pointed at the girl. “Who’s she?” 

There was a long pause. “There’s nothing there, dude,” he said eventually. 

“What?! She’s… right there!” You sputtered, looked at him, then looked back at the girl. And she was gone. 

And then Pence wasn’t there. He was down the street, walking alongside his friends. You weren’t there either. You were walking next to them. You stumbled and fell mid-step. 

They rushed to pick you back up but didn’t ask what had made you trip. They didn’t say anything at all. All three had a look of benign happiness on their faces, and it didn’t change one bit as you walked onward. To where, you didn’t remember. You didn’t remember where you’d come from, either. 

  


You had found a coat with a hood somewhere. It fit perfectly and hid your features. You wandered Twilight Town alone. No one seemed to be around. 

And then someone stepped out to face you. Someone tall, in a black coat. He threw back his hood. 

It was him, the tall red-haired man from your dreams. His hair wasn’t made of literal flames, but something about him gave you the distinct impression of a barely controlled inferno. 

“Well, well, well. Here you are at last, _best friend._” He didn’t sound very friendly. “Roxas. You’re coming with me. I’m sorry.” 

Weirdly, the apology did seem sincere. But it sounded like this person wasn’t after you. Assuming any this was real, of course. You played along, and cautiously removed your hood. “Who’s Roxas?” 

The reaction from the man was one that made you realize he _must_ be real. No one could visibly go through that much pain in the space of a few seconds and not be real. He almost fell to his knees but caught himself on a nearby wall at the last moment. 

“You… you _didn’t_… Roxas…” he gasped out. 

“Didn’t what? And my name is Xion.” 

“You… Roxas… you… _you_…” 

And then everything was ablaze. Rising over the roar of the flames, the man’s voice cried out, _“WHAT DID YOU DO?”_

Suddenly the town vanished. The flames vanished. The strange, angry man vanished. And either an eternity or an instant later, you were back in your room. You felt very, very sleepy, and keeled over onto your bed. You were out before you hit the mattress. 

  


The next day, you felt something calling you to the old mansion hidden away behind the woods. So there you went, with nothing better to do. Once again, the town was empty. The people were nowhere to be found. Your friends were gone. You didn’t feel bad about that. You didn’t feel anything. 

You stood before the locked gate, and time froze. When it resumed, you were standing before it, one hand outstretched, and the gate was open. You proceeded onward. 

The inside was strange. Old, but clearly in use by someone. Drawings littered the floor and the walls, but when you tried to focus on them, your head swam. You felt like somewhere within you, a dam was about to burst. Already, things were leaking through. You knew that the girl you’d seen was named Naminé. You knew that “Roxas” had been someone you’d once known, and that thinking about him make you hurt. The man who’d confronted you was called Axel. 

And there he was again, facing you down inside a room that suddenly changed to have deep blue metal walls with blinking lights everywhere. Some kind of computer system was in the corner, and the red-haired man stood between you and it. 

“Axel,” you said. 

“You remember me this time, then?” he drawled, far more composed than you’d seen him last. “I’m SO FLATTERED.” And once again, flames exploded out of nowhere, surrounding the two of you. Wheels of fire spun at his side, and from them he retrieved… what the hell _were_ those? Whatever they were, they looked sharp and deadly. "I have to bring you home _again_, Xion. I can't afford to _hold back_, so don't worry." 

In response, you reached out with both hands. You’d done this before, on instinct, like it was supposed to do something. But this time it did. In your hands appeared strange weapons, one light, one dark. 

_Keyblades,_ your mind told you. Okay. 

“Two…” breathed Axel. He set his piercing eyes on you, sharper than before, like he was trying to see through you. “Roxas must still be in there somewhere. Please, Xion… let him out. If I don’t come back with him… they’ll turn me into a Dusk. I didn’t tell them about you. But if they find out… I’m gone.” 

Was this person begging for your help, or threatening you? “I don’t know who Roxas is, Lea.” 

Wait. _Lea?_ Where had that come from? That wasn’t… 

Axel’s jaw dropped, and he choked on his words a few times before getting them out. “How- you- _how did you-_ who told you?” 

“Lea,” you said again, tasting the word. It sounded weirdly _right._ “Was that your Somebody name?” Wait, what did that mean? Somebody? If he wasn’t somebody, then what was he? 

_“Who told you that?”_

“I…” You could feel the tidal wave of memories about to overtake you, but for now you stayed afloat. “You must have told me.” 

“I know I didn’t. There’s only one other person in the Organization who would have cared to remember that, and there’s no _fucking_ way he told you.” 

A spark flared in your mind, and you recalled something about Axel (or Lea?). Just one thing, but something you were pretty sure he’d said a lot. “So I guess he’s got it-” 

“Don’t you say it,” he spat. “Don’t you…” Then he sagged, and the fire in him and all around him petered out. His odd spiked wheels went up in smoke. “Don’t… don’t… don’t you dare.” 

You were getting some cruel satisfaction out of taunting him like this, and you didn’t know why. But you felt guilty, too. What had this man done to you? Who was he to you? You could almost remember… 

But he didn’t give you the chance to think about it. Darkness rose around him, and you heard him say, “You, me, Roxas… let’s meet again in the next life.” Then the shadows consumed him, and he was gone. 

Something pulled you towards the computer in the corner. You approached it cautiously, swinging your Keyblades casually. Clearly, you knew how to use them. And staring at the jumble of metal and lights reminded you of something… something that made you sad. And confused. And angry. 

Acting on instinct alone, you raised your weapons and brought them down on the computer. The moment they made contact, everything went dark, and you ceased to exist. 

  


You existed again, and a blonde-haired blue-eyed girl clothed all in white was looking at you with concern. 

“Xion?” 

It was her again. You were back, your memory was back… and the hurt was back, too. Of course, she’d said it was like a vacation. Vacations end. 

And you had almost been happy. 

Well, content. Maybe. 

Not actively suffering, anyway. 

When you looked at her, your heart- your physical heart- skipped a beat. But no, surely that wasn’t possible. You might have some pale imitation of a heart, but surely Nobodies can’t- 

Naminé was speaking. “I… I’m sorry, Xion, this must be a lot. I considered speaking to you as the process approached completion but I… couldn’t. It was too much.” 

“It’s okay,” you said. “I saw you once. It didn’t mean much then, but it does now.” 

She smiled faintly. You suddenly became aware that the two of you weren’t alone. You turned to find… Riku. In a black coat, lurking by the door. 

You connected the dots. “You bastard,” you said, without any real venom in your voice. “We just wanted to go to the beach. Why did you stop us?” 

The boy at least had the decency to look guilty. “I’m sorry. DiZ didn’t have time to program a whole new location. We barely finished before-” 

He was interrupted by a crashing sound from somewhere outside. Once again, as if saying his name called him forth, DiZ’s deep, commanding voice rang out from another room. “They’re here! Riku, defend us. Whatever you have to do, they CANNOT be allowed access to the Chamber. Or the Replica. Naminé, get it to Sora. Wake him _now._ Complete him. Nothing else matters, especially not you two.” 

You definitely should be angry about some of that, but you couldn’t muster the energy. Riku was already sprinting away, his face bearing an odd mixture of resignation and relief. “Xion. Please, go to Sora!” he called, and then he was gone. Naminé rushed off, and you, with an expression matching Riku’s, followed her to a room where a boy floated inside a translucent glass pod. It resembled a flower about to bloom. 

So this was him. Sora. The one they all wanted. 

He looked pleasant enough. A peaceful sleeper, certainly. His shoes were unreasonable, though. And he absolutely needed new clothes. He must have kept growing while suspended like this, somehow. Magic, probably. You didn’t want to think about it too hard. 

Wait. Had _you_ grown in the datascape? You took stock of yourself, carefully. You weren’t sure how much time had passed. It felt like months… but only a few real hours. 

“Naminé, how long-” 

“Xion, we don’t have time.” She sounded sorry, sincerely sorry, but stressed. She was shaking. 

Ah. Well, you couldn’t very well leave her like that, could you. You eyed Sora one last time. The traitorous thought entered your mind that you could probably still turn the tables on him. Absorb _him._ This could be your story, if you wanted it to be. 

You didn’t. You were so, so tired. It was your turn to sleep. “Naminé? Thank you. For everything.” 

Holding back a sob, the other girl (who now that you looked, and you were seizing the opportunity to look while you could, had definitely grown since you’d seen her last) extended a hand. And faltered. 

She stood like this for some time, still and perfect as a statue, one palm facing you. Both of you jumped at the sound of a scream of rage and pain from Riku, echoing throughout the mansion. 

“Do it, Naminé.” 

“I’ll… I’ll see you later, Xion.” 

And then you were being ripped apart. It wasn’t like the digital deconstruction. This was unimaginably painful, you could feel your memory and mind and heart unraveling. It felt like dying. That was, you considered dully as agony overwhelmed you, undoubtedly because you were, in fact, dying. 

At least your personal Grim Reaper was cute as hell. 

  


You were surprised when your consciousness reformed out of the void. And it continued to, every now and then. Sometimes in response to the Organization showing up and bothering Sora, sometimes out of nowhere, for no apparent reason. With nothing else to do, you figured you might as well keep up with what was happening. If he was fighting the Organization, it might be worth watching. And if you found a way to help, all the better. Maybe he’d run into Naminé at some point. You could make sure he thanked her. 

On one such occasion, you wondered if Sora could sense when you were awake, sifting through memories trying to figure out what you had missed during the times when you… didn’t exist. Did he find himself having strange flashbacks? Weird thoughts? Just a feeling in the back of his head? 

If so, he didn’t say anything. He didn’t say that much, you’d noticed. Oh sure, he laughed and joked and articulated effort in combat, but he didn’t let anyone see what he was really thinking, to the point where you wondered if he was thinking at all. He seemed to feel rather than think. True, when you’d been your own person (as much as you ever had been), you hadn’t had the most vivid of personalities, but you’d thought a Somebody would be more… alive. Sora only sprang to life when his friends were talking to him. While battling Heartless and Nobodies he moved like a machine, like he’d had decades of experience instead of a few months. In that, at least, you understood why so many had been so desperate to bring him back. Sora was a _nightmare_ to stand against. No wonder Xemnas had spent all that effort to make a mindless weapon out of you. Left unchecked, this boy’s power would tear through worlds like so much paper. 

This world you were in now was interesting, and you had awoken in response to someone Sora had met here. A girl forced to pretend to be a boy. You could relate to that, though Mulan didn’t seem to mind much. Maybe she would prefer to be a boy. Did she know it was up to her? Maybe her appearance wasn’t directly dictated by her choices, like yours was, but you’d felt like a girl well before your form had settled, or even before you’d really been aware that you had any control over it. The feeling was what mattered. 

She went by Ping as a man. That made you think. You’d been given the name Xion as a mockery, after your Replica number. And even _that_ wasn’t a real number. _i_, the square root of a negative. Imaginary. Presence and absence at the same time. That which could not be comprehended or defined… or made real. Is that a name you wanted to keep? 

But that was something for a real person with a real future to think about. You weren’t one, and didn’t have one. And then you were distracted by the appearance of what seemed to be another Organization member… but the odd one you’d seen lurking around Sora during his travels, who didn’t seem to mean any harm. 

He was tall. Adult-sized. And probably not one of the Organization, but you knew you’d seen him somewhere before… which rather limited the options, now that you thought about it.

Hang on. Someone in an Organization coat, but who wasn’t one of them. The way he moved, the stance he held. Waiting with all the patience and composure of a stone. 

_Riku._

It was unmistakably him. It had been him all along. What the hell was he doing? All that whining about getting his friend back, all to lead him on some elaborate game of cat and mouse while concealing himself? And why was he so _big?_ Growth spurts were one thing, but unless he’d somehow aged ten times as fast as everyone else… 

But wait. You’d seen Riku right before you’d joined Sora. He’d been a little taller, you’d thought… but nothing like this. He’d rushed off to fight the Organization as they'd tried to reclaim you at the last second. What had they done to him? Was he under their control? 

The stress of worrying about this caused you to fade again, and you hoped Sora would get to the bottom of it. 

  


Axel was dying. Disappearing. Whatever it was Nobodies did. His existence was ending. 

He’d gone out with a bang, of course. You weren’t entirely certain that he’d needed to, but you knew he wouldn’t have it any other way. You watched through Sora’s eyes as your friend expended the very last shreds of his energy making a portal to the Organization’s world. 

Then he dissolved. And you, truly, finally, had no one left. 

You tried to follow him, but Sora… there was a connection between the two of you now. It pulled you back when you tried to disappear. Was this your doing? Had your brief moments of wakefulness meant that you had doomed yourself to this half-existence forever? 

If you could form a body, even an imaginary one, and wield your Keyblades, you might just be able to sever the thread binding you and set yourself free. But you didn’t have the strength, so you watched listlessly as Sora strode into the world of the Organization. 

And shortly thereafter, you got the power you needed. Sora arrived before the skyscraper where Riku had confronted you, the last place you’d seen Roxas. The last time you’d fought for your right to exist. And while you hadn’t lost, you’d surrendered anyway. 

Those memories sent a rush of energy into your flagging heart, and quick as a thought you had crafted yourself a body and a place on which to stand. More than that, you suddenly felt like you and Sora were on equal footing, if just for now. You reached for the connection and instead of severing it, you _pulled,_ and- 

The two of you stood on a shifting, ethereal surface which was plastered with glowing images of Sora’s memories and friends. You had no place here, but you held your ground, facing him. He looked stunned, having been abruptly yanked into himself- you had a brief vision of his prone form on the cement, those strange animal companions of his looking him over with concern- and only just reacted in time when you charged him. 

He'd started to say something, but the sight of you barreling in his direction, sparks flying off your Keyblades as they scraped across the shimmering display of his heart, silenced him. His face went stony, and you recognized the look as the one he bore in combat. The ruthless, unstoppable power of the Keyblade hero was about to be turned on you, and you looked forward to the challenge. Maybe it’d make you feel alive. 

The two of you clashed again and again, simple silver Key warding off your dual blades of light and darkness. You moved faster than him, dancing around him and over him and out of his reach. But when you engaged, you found there was never any solid opening. He was _good._ Efficient, practiced, brutal. He weaved and dodged and parried with a precision that, for all your power and agility, you could not hope to match. You landed some glancing blows, far more than he did. You could see it hurt him. But he just kept coming. 

You slipped up, just once, and found yourself staring him down, your faces centimeters apart. Your two Keyblades were crossed protectively in front of you, his locked between them. You had managed to block his swing at the last instant, but the tip of his weapon was brushing the front of your coat. He was strong. You weren’t sure how much longer you were going to last before you would either be forced to drop your Keys or watch them shatter. 

“Do it, then. Take everything I have left. _Do it._” 

He hesitated, letting up ever so slightly, and that was all you needed to end it. You dismissed one Key, immediately reformed it, and batted his weapon away. Then you threw yourself at him, sending him toppling over. Pinning his Key to the insubstantial ground with your left blade and holding the right to his throat, you said, “It’s over. I win.” 

“Who _are_ you?” 

Ha. “No one of importance.” 

“That’s not an answer!” 

“No, but it’s all you’re getting until you tell me something.” You brought the edge of your blade closer to his neck. You pondered what would happen if you struck him down. 

“What?” 

“Why you, and not me?” 

He thought for a bit. His Keyblade vanished, and you tensed, in case Sora was planning to try something. But no, he’d just gotten distracted while he mulled over your question. Finally, he smiled in a way he probably thought was winningly and said, “How do I answer that without knowing who you are?” 

You couldn’t help but laugh, and maybe that was an answer in itself. You dismissed your Keyblades and stood up, but kept an eye out for any sudden moves as Sora too climbed to his feet. You saw none. He wasn’t interested in fighting anymore, and you found that you weren’t, either. 

“What’s your name?” 

You went to answer, and then stopped. Your name… 

Your name was the only thing you had left that was yours. And even that, you thought bitterly, had been given to you by someone else. It wasn’t even a real name, but it was all you had. If Sora didn’t know it, you weren’t going to surrender it. 

“I’m just… your other.” 

“Um… hi, Just Yourother?” 

Wow. 

“No. I mean, I’m not giving you my name. Just consider me your other half. Your shadow.” Had he always been this slow or had Naminé left him in the pod a bit too long? No, you doubted Naminé did anything wrong. This was what you were going to have to put up with, you supposed. 

“Oh. Why won’t you tell me your name?” 

“Because. You’ve already taken everything else from me.” You didn’t hate him, really. Though you freely admitted to yourself that beating the hell out of him just now had been pretty satisfying. You had been forced to wear that face against your will, you could stand to see it a little roughed up. 

“What do you mean?” 

You’d wanted to stick to simple, ominous answers for the look of the thing, but this boy just didn’t take the hint. “You were trapped asleep. Something had… broken you. I was made from the shards of your memory, and those shards had to be returned to you for you to wake up. So here I am, too. We couldn’t both exist. I died, you lived.” 

“But that’s not fair!” he cried. 

You stared. Everything this boy had seen, and he believed in _fairness?_ “That’s the way it is. Don’t feel bad. I was never really real. I wasn’t even supposed to be playing this role. Things got… complicated. You can thank the Organization for that.” 

“What are you _talking_ about? Of course you’re real! You’re standing here talking to me!” 

You sighed. “Where is _here?_ We’re inside your mind, Sora. You’re talking to yourself.” 

Sora paused, and then you watched as it finally dawned on him. “Ohhhh, I get it. You’re my Nobody, aren’t you?” 

Close enough. You were impressed he’d figured it out at all, honestly. “I am.” 

“Oh. How can I save you?” 

He just wouldn’t stop. And again, there was your answer. “You can’t.” 

“I don’t accept that!” 

“You have things to do, and I’m already lost. If you want to avenge me, though, I wouldn’t say no to that. Destroy the Organization. _Especially_ Xemnas and Saïx.” 

“Things that are lost can be found again.” 

“Just, shut _up._” 

He did and stared at you, hurt. You didn’t waver. “Go away, Sora. I pulled you in here to meet you properly, and I have. I’m already starting to fade. I don’t know when, or if, I’ll wake up again.” It was true. Your little sparring match had used up the power you’d managed to claim for yourself. Once again, you’d won, but you’d have to surrender. You turned and walked away, heading out of the circle of light. 

“Wait! One last thing…” 

Dammit. “Yes?” 

“Why is my Nobody a girl?” 

You gasped and froze in place. Despite yourself, your vision started to cloud with tears. He’d seen you. The real you. The you that you wanted to be, the you that you had fought so hard to be. 

You hadn’t known how he would see you. As himself, as Roxas, as a puppet. But no, this sweet simple boy had seen _you._

And that is why it had to be him. 

“Uhh… Other? Miss Other?” 

Absolutely incredible. 

You surreptitiously wiped your eyes, and then turned smartly to face him again. “Why am I a girl? Why are _you_ a boy?” 

This seemed to stump him. He crossed his arms behind his head and thought about it for a bit, then relaxed, shrugged, and grinned lazily. “I just am, I guess.” 

“That’s my answer, too. Now get out of here.” You let yourself slide back into darkness, feeling for the first time that maybe, just maybe, things would turn out alright. If not for you, at least for everyone else, including this dear idiot. 

  


You met someone on your way back into oblivion. Finding yourself sitting on the old clock tower, you looked to your right to see Axel. You failed to be surprised. He’d probably hitched a ride in Sora, just like his best friends. But it wasn’t a strong enough connection to sustain him. In reality, he was already gone. This was more like an echo. 

The echo handed you some ice cream, and you ate it. 

There was a space between you. It was where Roxas had sat. You dared to hope that maybe, just maybe… he’d show. You knew he wasn’t gone for good. You could feel him, somewhere within Sora. But your other friend did not appear. Instead, Axel scooted over and closed the gap. 

“I remember when you first showed me your face. We were sitting right here, and I was helping you two come with up a plan to hide your missing powers. And then, you took your hood off.” 

“I never took my hood off, Axel,” you replied. “I never had it on. You saw my face then because that was the first time you saw me as a person.” 

“Huh. Is that right.” He shifted in place and finished off his own ice cream. “But were any of us really people?” 

You had to tell him. “We have hearts, Axel. Maybe fake hearts. Maybe weak hearts. But they’re ours.” 

He didn’t seem too shocked. “Well how about that.” 

Silence followed. Eventually, you ended it. “I didn’t mean to, you know. I wanted him to win. Xemnas… he _forced_ me.” 

Axel nodded. “He told me, when I returned without Roxas the second time. He said that he’d spare me from erasure only because I had been ordered to retrieve someone that no longer existed. I think I’d have preferred he just turn me into a Dusk. I’m sorry for getting angry, I didn’t want to lose you either, but…” He trailed off. 

“But I’m the Replica,” you supplied. “The fake.” 

He flinched. “Xion,” Axel said, “you’re my friend too. I… I never knew which one of you to choose. It wasn’t a choice. It was suffering.” 

“And you didn’t realize that you had a heart, then?” 

He chuckled. “Silly of me, I know.” 

“…He isn’t gone. Not entirely. He’s somewhere… asleep. Inside Sora. And I saw him, just once. He stopped me from getting captured by the Organization after our duel.” 

Axel smiled, and a tear made its way down his cheek, mocking the markings under his eyes. “I’d hoped that, when I saw you pull out two Keyblades. It only made sense. And something’s been bothering me. You called me Lea… when I _was_ Lea, back when I was a kid, I met someone who looked quite a lot like Roxas. I’d always thought it had to be coincidence. Or a distant relation, or just the faulty memory of a Nobody playing tricks on me. But now, I’m not so sure.” 

“What are you talking about?” You stared at him. 

“Let’s just say that in a world where _you_ exist, anything’s possible.” You gave him a friendly shove, and the two of you laughed. 

You enjoyed the view together in peace, one last time. And for once, the sun actually set, putting an end to the eternal twilight. 

Maybe, at least for one of you, there would be a dawn. 

  


This time, it was Sora that pulled you out of the dark. You didn’t think he'd meant to, but his strong emotions had swept over you and pushed away the shadows. You smiled without a mouth. He’d found Kairi… and Riku, though he hadn’t realized it yet. 

She rushed him, and he returned her embrace. Shortly thereafter, she showed him who this tall stranger bearing an enemy’s face really was, and you were bombarded by an even stronger wave of feelings. 

You compared the emotions from when Sora had hugged Kairi with what you were feeling from him now, as he grasped Riku’s hand and cried. Ah. So _that_ was love. You idly speculated on whether Kairi knew, then remembered that it wasn’t your place. It’d work itself out, you doubted that Sora was the kind to be capable of loving only one person, and you really didn’t think Kairi would mind. It was just that, clueless buffoon that he was, he probably hadn’t realized that she cared about him as deeply as he cared about Riku. No, deep wasn’t the right word. Sora _cared_ for the two in equal measure. And not just them, but a whole host of other people… including _yourself._ What the hell? You’d only spoken to him directly once, and you’d nearly cut his head off! What was wrong with this boy? 

You realized you were effectively abusing your position in his heart to read Sora’s internal diary, rummaging around in his memories and emotions. That was not something you thought you should be doing. Though the… reddish… tint surrounding all his thoughts of Riku reminded you of something you’d felt, once. 

Shoving that away, you scrolled through his recent memories to catch yourself up, even though that too made you feel like a bit of a creep. You promised yourself that once the Organization was gone, you’d rejoin Sora properly. Until then, you wanted to see this through as Xion. 

You appreciated Riku effectively bullying Saïx, and certainly didn’t mind watching and rewatching the man who had called you “Poppet” die. You noted with amusement that Xigbar seemed to think you had perished and Roxas had been victorious. Xemnas hadn’t told him. The Organization’s number two had tried to call number thirteen out, but of course he hadn’t gotten a response. He was here somewhere, but in a deep, deep sleep. It would take far more than calling his name to wake him up. And he hadn’t thought to call for number _fourteen_, not that you would have given him the pleasure. Though you might have tried to take control from Sora to kill him yourself if he’d uttered that awful nickname. 

Back in the present, a battle with Luxord ensued, and it nearly put you to sleep. Who cared about Luxord? He sounded so _hurt_ when he called Roxas’s name as he fell, but you didn’t think Roxas would care either if he was in your place. But then Sora went up against Saïx, who apparently also didn’t know you’d taken Roxas’s role, and you focused. Now this, this was a fight you wanted to help out with. If Sora noticed that he was hitting a little harder than usual, and even lashing out with a foot or fist on occasion out of nowhere, he didn’t let on. Just for an instant, as the bastard lay dying, you asserted yourself fully. He saw you, though you had no idea _which_ you. Whatever he saw, it stopped his dramatic last words in their tracks. You gave him a wide grin, and his face showed shock as it fell apart into nothing. 

That had been satisfying. But as you went to turn back into nothing- the pull was getting stronger and stronger, you’d overstretched yourself again- you saw Riku’s shocked face. And Kairi’s far more quizzical one. Donald and Goofy didn’t seem to have seen anything, however. But the other two had. Oh, no. 

You listened in as Sora started questioning who Roxas was, fighting harder and harder to stay conscious. “Is… is that my Nobody’s name?” you heard. Shit. If Riku tried to say anything about you… 

He did. The moment he said “her,” you took over Sora again in one great act of willpower, shoving your counterpart all the way into darkness. It wouldn’t last, and you’d probably dissolve back into him forever after this, but you would _not_ permit Riku to do what he had been about to do. 

With Sora’s mouth, layering on the sweetness in his voice, you said, “Riku? If you tell him my name, you’ll have to find yet _another_ body, because that one won’t be functional once I’m through with it.” 

You snapped back into the fog of Sora’s heart like a rubber band giving way under tension, laughing without a voice at Riku’s expression. 

  


When you woke again, it was to a nightmare. 

Riku and Sora were fighting Xemnas. Donald and Goofy had been knocked out already. But you watched as a completely uninjured Sora keeled over, the Organization’s leader extending a hand towards him. You felt something terrible, and terribly familiar. Xemnas was invading your mind. It was happening again. 

But it was so much worse this time, you realized. He could use you to take over your other. New power flooded your heart, but it was only darkness. As you felt yourself yank on the connection again, bringing forth a confused Sora to the arena where you’d defeated him once already, you wondered if this had been the monster’s plan all along. 

Once again, you were bound to Xemnas’s will and your appearance changed to become Sora. That hideous armor followed, turning you into a cold automaton. That’s what Xemnas thought you were, after all, and right now he dictated who you were and what you did. In his eyes, you were just a copy of Sora with marionette strings attached, the ends of which he held. You could even see them, lines of darkness binding your limbs and forcing you to attack your counterpart. They extended upwards and out of Sora’s mind, right into Xemnas’s grip. He manipulated them freely as he fought a now-alone Riku, who was losing ground fast. Somehow the boy had gotten his old body back and even cast aside the coat he’d worn as long as you’d known him, but right now, you weren’t concerned with that. You struggled against your bonds and you felt the strings loosen just a bit, but then they wrapped around you all the tighter. 

“I’m sorry,” you said, except you didn’t. What you heard come out of your mouth was, “This is _my_ body now.” Sora’s expression of shock and fear made you want to cry, but you were denied even that. You reached for your weapons, but a quick surge of resistance paid off, and Xemnas only managed to force you to call one of your Keyblades. The one that had been yours originally, the one your suffering had altered into its current forbidding shape. You could do nothing to stop yourself from turning it on Sora, and the two of you clashed again. This time, there would be no mercy. You would slay your other, take his body for your own, and then eliminate Riku while the Organization’s leader laughed. 

There was no hell hot enough for Xemnas. Or Xehanort. Or whatever his name was. But rage didn’t break your chains. 

No, something else did that. From the gloom came your other Keyblade, the one you had learned at some point or another was called Oathkeeper. Shining brilliantly, it swiped through the strings holding you and you collapsed, suddenly and blessedly free of Xemnas’s control. The armor crumbled, and you were yourself again. The Keyblade fell to the ground beside you with a clatter, while the one you’d summoned disappeared. Sora stopped mid-swing. 

“Miss Other?” 

“_Go,_” you said. Xemnas, astonished and enraged, had turned on Riku with a new fury, and the boy looked like he was seconds from being overwhelmed. Sora nodded, and faded from view. You watched him leap to his feet and rejoin the fight. 

You stared at the weapon lying at your side. You went to reach for it, but someone took your hand and pulled you upright. 

Roxas’s face filled your vision, and you gasped. The tears that Xemnas had forbidden began leaking out. Your friend’s eyes were closed, and he moved sluggishly, like someone sleepwalking. And that was probably because he appeared to be doing exactly that. But even so, he picked up your Keyblade- no, you remembered, _his_ Keyblade- and the moment it was in his hand it changed. And so did Roxas. 

You were definitely looking at Roxas, but his black coat was gone. Instead, he wore a complex outfit of black, white, grey, and green, studded with… armor? It was the strangest thing you’d ever seen, until you saw his Keyblade. It had reversed in his hand, pointing backwards. It seemed crude but definite, like something a child had thought looked cool and then had ended up only believing that harder as they’d grown up. 

Roxas’s appearance alternated between these two forms, blurring and shifting, and then he started to disappear. One hand gripping yours tightly, the other holding his reclaimed Keyblade. The circle of light you stood in dimmed and diminished, and you let it. You’d think about what you’d seen when and if you woke up again. Sora needed every scrap of power and concentration for the battle in front of him. 

Something pinged in your other’s recent memory, and as you slipped back into Sora you pulled it up to find… _DiZ._ Or “Ansem the Wise,” apparently, now that he’d removed the bandages concealing his features. He’d looked at Sora and spoken to you, and promptly gotten himself killed. You didn’t find yourself too sad about that, but you were interested in what he had said. 

“And to the people I trapped within Sora… I doubt you can hear me, but I am sorry.” 

Well. That’s nice. Even so, it had been better for him that you’d been recovering from your earlier efforts and unable to hear him. Or see him. You’d have tried… something unpleasant. And that happy thought was your last for what proved to be only a short while. 

  


You rose in time to see Xemnas fall and rejoiced at his destruction. Sora had even mocked him before the fight, you now recalled. You _knew_ he didn’t think that Nobodies didn’t exist, or couldn’t feel, though at times you had certainly thought that might be true yourself. But he had told Xemnas that anyway, to shut him up. 

He wasn’t a bad other. 

But now they were stuck in a collapsing world. You watched as Riku tried and failed to open a corridor. Apparently, he “wasn’t a creature of darkness anymore.” Okay, thanks… Mickey? Who and what was this thing, and why was he here? 

You decided to sort that out later. You were pretty sure you qualified as a creature of darkness, and you projected yourself out of Sora. And when you did, you found you weren’t alone. 

She was there, right next to you. 

Naminé. 

She looked just as surprised, and _pleased,_ to see you as you were to see her. The girl likely had just had the same thought, that she might be able to help her other escape. She must have been lurking inside Kairi this whole time. You found yourself hoping she’d seen you help out Sora against Saïx, and that… she hadn’t been scared by your threat to Riku. Oh, whoops. If she’d seen one, she’d seen the other. 

She didn’t seem scared of you, to your relief. In sync, you both extended a hand and forged a pathway out together. As you did, you thought about Naminé. What is it that had drawn you to her? You supposed… well, she was kind to you, first and foremost. But there was something else. Both of you led existences that were, on the face of it, complete nonsense. Her, a shadow of someone who was supposed to be a source of light and therefore had no shadows, and you, a copy of a counterpart of the real hero who had ended up playing a role not meant for her. Neither of you made sense, so you understood each other in a way no one else ever could. 

Everyone but Sora, Riku, and Kairi rushed out quickly. And wait, was that your old dog that had just run past? Whatever. Your life, or lack thereof, was already so goddamn weird. This might as well happen. You turned your attention to Naminé, and found she was already looking at you like… like you were the moon in the sky. A pleasant one, that is, not the wretched malformed thing Sora and Riku had just destroyed. 

Whatever heart you had, it stopped working at the sight. 

“Hey,” you said. Oh, wow. Really, Xion? Really? 

Did she just giggle at you? Oh, no… 

“Hey,” she responded in kind, smiling. 

Could you be tongue-tied without a real, physical tongue? You’d found a way. Realizing you weren’t going to say anything, Naminé picked up the slack. “I told you I’d see you later.” 

You managed to nod. She was really here, and you were really here, and you were _together_… 

You heard Kairi clear her throat, and the two of you jumped and looked over to the others. Oh, they could see you. Kairi, in particular, was smiling at the two of you. Well, that ruled out one course of action you’d been considering… 

No, you still wanted to kiss this girl. You didn’t care if others were watching. And while you knew that might be… a little sudden, you got the strong impression that she wouldn’t mind. But you didn’t, because Naminé was talking to Sora and Kairi. 

“We’re glad we got to meet you. Or at least I am. I don’t know about her, she seems to be a little flustered.” She was teasing you. You didn’t know how to even begin to handle that. 

You found your voice. “No, I’m glad too. And… I’m thankful that you brought me here, Sora. Also, that you wrecked Xemnas and Saïx. Good work. Sorry for almost killing you. Um, twice. But the second time wasn’t my fault.” 

Naminé interrupted your babbling. “We’ll return to you now. Properly. Don’t be sad… whenever the two of you are together, so will we be. I just ask that you don’t disappoint us,” she said, glancing at Sora. 

You, Naminé, and Kairi exchanged the exact same look. _Thank you,_ the latter mouthed. You felt for Kairi, you really did. As for Sora, he just looked confused. “Yeah? I mean… I wasn’t going to just up and abandon her…” 

“Good,” you said, sharper than you probably needed to. Naminé gave you a nudge. 

“It’s time,” she said. And she was right. The Organization was gone. You didn’t need to be Xion anymore. 

Part of you wanted to protest. Yes, the two of you would be together when Sora and Kairi were together… but it wouldn’t be the same. And you dreaded the thought of existing in a world where you getting a chance to see more of this girl might rely on Sora realizing that Kairi didn’t just like him as a friend. You’d apparently stolen whatever people-reading skills your other self had. 

But it was what Naminé wanted. You’d accept it. And after everything… you were tired again. You wanted to sleep, and this time, you might just sleep peacefully. 

You reached for her hand, and found that she had reached for yours, too. In unison, you extended your other hands and, with far less trepidation, grasped those of your still dumbfounded respective others. You returned to where you came from together. Side by side before, and side by side after. 

  


It was a long while until you stirred again. Eventually, you found your mind knitting itself together, but not called by anything in particular. It was, you realized with alarm, because Sora was starting to drift away that your buried consciousness had managed to surface. He was somewhere very strange, walking along an avenue of dreams, chasing them deeper and deeper into nothingness. You tried to get his attention, seizing onto one of the illusions and making it your vessel, but he only chased you farther into the void when you called his name. You relented and scolded yourself. Wherever Sora’s path led, it wasn’t your place to interfere. You weren’t a part of this story anymore, and you gave up trying to figure out what was happening after a quick look at his increasingly jumbled memories. Something about three missing Keyblade wielders- a part of you twinged oddly when you recalled their names- and worlds in slumber. 

But then, a few minutes later, he saw a vision of Naminé. And suddenly, something in you resisted giving up your place in this story. It resisted so strongly that you materialized right before Sora, where the fake Naminé had stood a moment ago. He recoiled in shock. 

You examined yourself. This wasn’t a body, of course. It was just another illusion in a world of illusions. But right now, a solid one. You stared into Sora’s eyes, blue meeting blue. 

You said, without a trace of jealousy in your voice, “This could have been the other way around, you know.” 

“Miss Other-” 

“Stop calling me that. _Anything_ else. ‘Miss,’ good. ‘Other,’ fine. But not both. It sounds stupid.” 

“Just tell me your name!” 

You shook your head. “No, but I have something else for you.” Before you could rethink it, you grabbed his hands and let your memories flow into him. He wailed and struggled. Your experiences weren’t pleasant ones. 

Ignoring the part of you that protested, the part that had ached when you'd seen Naminé, you gave him everything. Everything except your name. 

Maybe retaining it was why you _still_ didn’t go away entirely, to your irritation. It would be easy. Just tell him your name, and you could dissolve for good. But no. He’d have to find that out on his own. You faded from view, returning to his mind, and joined him as he continued down the road of sleep. 

To your horror, at the end of that road was Xemnas and Xigbar. While mocking him, they told Sora what you already knew: that you, and Roxas, and Axel, and maybe even others, had developed hearts even as Nobodies. You appreciated Sora’s anger on your behalf, and his eloquent (for him) rebuttal, but you knew with every second he was weakening. Xigbar departed, and Xemnas and Sora dueled. At any moment you expected Xemnas to try to control him through you again. But he didn’t. You weren’t sure why. Maybe you had faded too much to be of any use. Maybe when Roxas had severed the marionette strings, it had been for good. Or maybe Xemnas wasn’t really there, and Sora was fighting smoke. 

Smoke or no, the leader of the Organization fell, but so did Sora. As he collapsed, Keyblade vanishing, another figure appeared. A real one. Right now, this man was realer than Sora. The person who eventually revealed himself to be a young Xehanort mocked your other, telling him exactly what was going to happen to him. You felt yourself grow a little stronger out of sheer panic. You refused to let Xehanort control Sora as he’d controlled you. 

Sora was diminishing rapidly, falling into darkness. With all the effort you could muster, you pieced together a misty, unsteady figure, leaning over him. You heard the child version of your enemy exclaim, and then start slow-clapping. You ignored whatever nonsense he was saying. 

“Sora,” you whispered, because it was all you could do. “Don’t. Wake up. Stop it. I can’t die for you again, you idiot.” You tried to shake him, but your illusory hand dissipated when it touched him. 

No, it was too late, he was gone. You felt yourself growing drowsy in turn, your ramshackle form slipping away. 

You, or possibly Sora, fell asleep. 

  


You woke to a strange vision of Riku fighting inside Sora’s heart, beset by two figures. One was you. You as you’d looked when you fought Roxas, wearing armor that was more prison than defense. The other was another, clunkier set of armor that was almost familiar in a way you couldn’t place. Both consisted of shadows, the bright colors you remembered yours having drained away. 

Seeing that horrible figure again, you shuddered. Or you would have, if you’d had a form to shudder with. Slowly, you tried to sink back into unconsciousness. You nearly made it, too, the sounds of the battle dying away. But then you were yanked into light, and to your shock, given a body. Not a real body, one made of memory, like your heart had been. But a body nonetheless, and one that assumed your true appearance. 

You looked around and found yourself on… a beach. You smiled wanly. You’d wanted to go to the beach, a whole lifetime ago, and here you were. But your friends weren’t here. Neither set of them, the fake ones or the faker ones. 

Wait. No, that wasn’t true. Lying peacefully against a palm tree was Roxas… but not Roxas. It was Roxas in the form he’d assumed after he’d saved you from Xemnas. 

There was no one else here. But you could feel Roxas nearby, like you always had. 

_There was no one else here._

With a kind of stifled, empty amusement, you understood. This Ventus the letter had spoke of, the sleeping boy… the one Axel had met so long ago… here he was. And here too, was Roxas. They had been the same person all along, Roxas being a dream that Ventus had dreamed in his fitful slumber. If Sora had ever had a true Nobody, this boy had taken their place immediately. And then you had taken it from him in turn, casting him back to his rest. 

You didn’t try to wake him. Roxas- no, _Ventus,_ you corrected yourself, had other friends. Real friends. The slightly older man and woman. He was even dressed like them, strange pieces of- you shuddered, for real this time- armor scattered about his person. The other suit attacking Riku must have been his. You wondered who had imprisoned him in it, and if that was why he was asleep now. 

Footsteps in the sand broke your train of thought, and you turned to see Riku approaching. Had he brought you here? You supposed he owed it to you. 

“What are you doing here?” 

Riku grimaced. “Hey. Xion, it’s good to see you,” and he _meant_ that, to your amazement, “but you’re not going to like this. I kind of need to wake Sora up.” 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You’d _died_ to wake him up, and he’d had the gall to fall right back asleep? “What’s the plan? Chuck yet another person into his heart to jumpstart it? I’m not sure there’s any room left.” 

The silver-haired boy shook his head. Riku looked different, you noticed. Capable, confident. Powerful. And more than that, he seemed free of whatever had been tormenting him when you’d known him in person. 

Good for him. 

“No,” he said. “I think I can do it myself. He was trapped in darkness, but I slew it. I just need to, well. I guess jumpstart his heart is a good way of putting it. I just don’t know where he is. This is our home, but… he’s not here.” 

You believed you could help with that. You’d grown pretty used to navigating Sora’s heart. Reaching out with your mind, you searched for him across your connection, and… 

“Riku, you’re in the wrong place.” 

“What?!” 

“He’s awake. Unless he’s having a very detailed dream of a tea party…” And _Axel_ was there, too, sitting backwards in a chair for some ridiculous reason. No... not Axel. It was Lea, a Nobody no longer. You didn’t know how, but it looked like your friend had made it to dawn. You were so, so glad. 

“Wow.” Riku started laughing, and for just a moment, you joined in. Then he summoned his Keyblade. “I… I have to go to him. But Xion? We’ll come back for you. I know you don’t want him knowing your name, I stopped Lea from telling him, but… it might be a lot harder for him to find you without it.” 

You shook your head. “Don’t worry about me. I don’t want to be found. I’ve been trying to go back to him for good, but he just won’t let me. He’s quite stubborn.” 

Riku muttered something. _“Are you…stubborn…Replica…worse than Sora.”_

“_What_ did you say?” 

He wasn’t intimidated this time. “I’ll tell you, Xion, _when_ I see you again.” And in a flash of light, he was gone. 

After the fanfare of Riku’s exit had faded away, you sat down and watched Ventus’s sleeping form. The beach was beginning to crumble, the waves stuttering and greying out. Axel, no, _Lea_ was safe, and the person you’d known as Roxas had other friends searching for a way to wake him. Other friends, with real bonds and real hearts. 

You were Xion, and no one needed you. Accepting that, you felt yourself disperse and fade away, deeper and deeper into the depths of Sora’s heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “There ain’t no ‘Roxas,’ kid, never was. Name’s Ventus.”
> 
> …I thought of that joke and then had to look up where that line was actually from. I tend to mindlessly collect phrases and iconic quotes without actually knowing the source material.
> 
> Similarly, I wrote the paragraph where Xion pins Sora’s Keyblade with Oathkeeper before I actually went and rewatched the canon scene, which I recalled almost nothing from. It was probably subconscious memory, but it was absolutely unintentional. Maybe that’s interesting? Probably not.
> 
> I’m not posting the third chapter too soon, I have so much to do and I’m burning myself out writing this. Maybe in a week or so. But god _damn_ are the parts I’ve written good. This whole fic has been a cycle of me wondering how the hell I just wrote something so objectively excellent, and then absentmindedly doing it again, always around five in the morning or thereabouts.
> 
> One last thing, regarding Coded, and that is: _fuck_ Coded.


	3. Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think you know how all of this is going to go, if you think it’s just going to be III minus Roxas but with a more developed Xion, you're _**dead fucking wrong.**_ For one thing, the end of the final battle with Xehanort is almost exactly the halfway point. Have fun.

It wasn’t you that woke up. Not at first. 

You were blank, and empty. You were hooded, and featureless. You were new, and comatose. 

The moment you stirred, beginning to recall that you _did_ have memories, that you _were_ a person, you felt something pull back and shove you away. Another heart had assumed your title, if not your identity, and it would tolerate no rival. Whether it did this by its own volition or was forced to, you had no idea. 

You fell, rejected by this body that claimed your being for its own. 

And then, like a pendulum completing its arc, you rose and found yourself watching from behind Sora’s eyes again. He was trying to needle Riku about you and Roxas. You hoped the taller boy didn’t try to tell Sora your name. You didn’t think you’d be able to stop him this time. 

“Roxas was… it’s kind of complex, Sora. But Ventus? One of the lost Keyblade wielders? For a time, he was awake and serving the Organization under the name Roxas. I don’t think he had any memory of his old life. But then the girl who became your Nobody defeated him and he fell back asleep. It was just before I fought her.” 

Oh, so he’d realized it too when he’d made the dive into Sora’s heart. It was good to see that there was at least one somewhat intelligent person among the guardians of light. 

“You _fought_ her back then?! What’s her name?” 

“I can’t tell you, Sora.” 

“Why not?” 

Riku looked Sora dead in the eyes, and you knew he was speaking to you. “Because I _like_ the body I have now.” 

Good. 

You subsided. 

  


He was after you again. Trying to dig you up. But without your name, he couldn’t find you. You’d made sure of it. 

But the idiot wouldn’t give up. He reached harder, and he might just have made a connection, sending him off to some world or another that would let him pick up your trail… 

You did the only thing you could to stop him. You yielded, fracturing what was left of your heart. You sabotaged your link with Sora right as he was travelling between worlds, and sent him spiraling off somewhere else. You didn’t care where, he’d fight his way out. He was incredibly resilient and stubborn. And that’s why you couldn’t let him waste his considerable power on a lost cause. 

The damage you did to your own heart was enough so that you were no longer bound just to Sora. A piece stayed with him, but just for moment, you were in three other places. 

Where Hayner, Pence, and Olette stopped what they were doing and clutched their heads as one, like they’d just been struck by the same headache. 

Where Lea dropped his ice cream, staring at Kairi like he’d seen a ghost. He started to cry, to the other girl’s alarm. 

Where you stood, cold and emotionless, as Xemnas spoke to you. No, not you. The fake you, the you that had rejected its own heart. 

And then you were gone. 

  


When light falls, darkness rises. So up you came yet again, surfacing as Sora dived deep, deep down into the abyss. He was searching for someone. 

For a panicked- _not_ hopeful, you insisted to yourself- moment, you thought it was you. But no, it was one of the lost Keyblade wielders he was after. Aqua. 

Riku was here too. He and Sora... 

Really? Their connection was that powerful, that _absolutely overwhelming_ even in this place of utter despair, and Riku hadn’t figured out that Sora returned his feelings? Never mind, you’d been wrong. Every guardian of light was a complete idiot. 

When the tower of shadows melted under the force of their light, a small figure came flying out. Not Aqua, the little mouse thing you’d seen a couple times before. Still an unanswered question, there, and you would have tried to sift through Sora’s memories to finally get to the bottom of it if Sora hadn’t been suddenly eye to eye with an enraged Aqua. 

You couldn’t say you were a fan of what you were pretty sure were signs of her heart having succumbed to darkness, but otherwise. Uh. Wow. And, to be perfectly honest with yourself, that first statement had been just a little bit of a lie. 

You did your best to not distract Sora as he, effectively, beat the evil out of her. It did seem to be that simple so very often, you mused. Or at least, when Sora was around it was. You suspected that he was the one making it so. 

And Aqua returned to the living world, shedding tears of joy in the light of the sun. You were pleased to see a story not too dissimilar to yours end well. She, a genuine person, had fought much longer and harder than you. She deserved it. 

When light rises, darkness falls. And so you slipped away, glad that when Ventus woke, he would have a real friend at his side. 

  


The image of Ventus, the real Ventus, lying asleep in a chair went through Sora’s pupils and straight to your heart. You found yourself fully conscious in time to see Aqua leaning over your friend. 

“Ven, wake up.” 

You felt sorry for Aqua. She’d come all this way, but his heart was here with you, and it was still fast asleep. He wouldn’t awaken easily. 

It was with some alarm, then, that you watched Ventus open his eyes and stand up. 

The Keyblade Master fell to her knees, hugging him. The boy just looked blank. “I…” 

“Ven,” cried Aqua. “You’re back. I’m so sorry, I couldn’t be here sooner.” 

Stiffly, Ventus gave her a hand up. And when she turned her back on him to speak to Sora, there was a tiniest change in his expression. “Thank you for getting me here, Sora. Let’s go, Ven.” 

Ventus had a sharp gleam in his eye that didn’t suit him. Something in Sora’s recent memory flared, and you knew what was happening. No, no, _no_… 

You didn’t have the strength to move Sora. You knew you’d let yourself fade far too much. So it came as a surprise when in response to your will, your host leaped forward, knocked the blue-haired girl’s feet out from under her, and intercepted the attempt to stab the Master in the back. 

And you’d thought _your_ Keyblade was edgy. Through Sora’s eyes, which were blinking rapidly in confusion at what he had just done, you were amazed at just how over the top Vanitas’s weapon was. And then, you noticed that you could make the comparison to yours quite easily, because Sora was holding it. 

Yeah, yours was better. You had enough time to confirm that before it vanished and was replaced with Sora’s Kingdom Key. 

“Sora, what-” Aqua had gotten back up just in time to see your Keyblade disappear. She stopped midsentence and executed a backflip away from Vanitas, pulling out her Keyblade at the peak of her arc. Al_right._ You were surrounded by drama queens, apparently. You begrudgingly admitted she’d looked damn good doing it, though. 

_“You,”_ she hissed. 

Vanitas retreated before stepping out of his counterpart’s body. Ventus fell to the floor limply. 

“You can’t blame me for trying. We’re so similar, after all, my dear brother and me. I thought it’d fool you. And what fun that would have been, watching you be struck down by your little Ven after you’d crossed infinity to save him?” 

“Shut up,” either you or Sora said. Maybe both. Or maybe… someone else. This time, you felt certain that Ventus had just twitched inside your mutual prison. 

The masked boy paid Sora’s outburst no attention. “So he wants to keep sleeping. And you know what? I might just help him with that. There’s another plan in the works. I don’t need _him_ anymore.” 

And he stabbed his Keyblade downward. 

Something happened within Sora that you weren’t privy to. Sora sank within himself- for a split second, _you_ had control, and you nearly fell over from the disorientation of suddenly having a body- and you got the sense that a great deal transpired in that instant. When Sora returned to the helm and you shrank back, you passed Ventus on the way, rising out of the shadows. 

There was a _clang_ as Ventus- in his body- stopped Vanitas’s blow. And then, as you watched, his strange Keyblade changed. The flat ends became sharp, triple pointed, and colored alternately gold and white. The handle grew wing designs. In the parts where it had been an almost wooden brown, it became sleek and pale, contrasting with the black. 

It retained the same basic shape, but you recognized the transformation. It was Oathkeeper, the blade he’d sent to save you from Xemnas, the blade he’d reclaimed from you. It had merged with his old Key, and at long, long last, your friend was awake. Though his Keyblade still looked odd, almost inverted. It had you a little concerned. Was something wrong with it? Was it, or he, damaged in some way? 

Wait. More importantly. Would he remember you? 

He knocked Vanitas aside, stood up, and dashed to Aqua’s side. When he looked at Sora- 

His startled reaction was due to something else. He didn’t see you. You knew that for certain. 

You’d let him go, you’d thought. But something in you wailed when you understood that while your Roxas may have been Ventus, Ventus did not have the memories of his time with the Organization. With you, or with Axel. 

But no, he’d recall Axel, wouldn’t he. Or Lea, anyway. He’d met Lea, after all. As Ventus. 

Silly of you. You’d forgotten again that you didn’t have a place in this story, that there was no one waiting for you. The only person who might really miss you was happy to see you as part of another. 

You diminished, and watched the events that followed, if only because there was nothing else to do until your consciousness faded again. 

Vanitas began to back away. “Three guardians is-” 

“Oh no you don’t,” interrupted Aqua, making a sweeping gesture. Blue light arced around the floor and rose to form a barrier. It shoved Sora back, leaving him and his companions outside and her, Ventus, and Vanitas inside. “You’re going down right here, Vanitas. And… welcome back, Ven.” 

Sora, of course, protested. “Hey! Let me help!” Your other needed to learn when to stop sticking his nose into things that really didn’t concern him. Then again, if he did, you supposed he wouldn’t be Sora. 

“Sorry, Sora, but this is our fight. And hey, Aqua,” said Ventus, and you felt a rush of happiness at hearing his voice. It was followed by a wave of shame. _Quit it,_ you told yourself. 

Ventus and Aqua went for Vanitas as one, and the pawn of Xehanort was immediately on the defensive. 

Wait. Okay, what the _fuck_ was Ventus doing. That’s… that’s not how you use a Keyblade. You were pretty sure it was supposed to face forward. He was fast enough to make it work, but wow did it look so completely ridiculous. That kind of speed would make him a nearly unstoppable opponent if just held his Keyblade like a normal person. You were glad he hadn’t done that when you’d known him. The Organization probably would have kicked him out for ruining their style. You hadn’t really thought about it before, but they really had put a lot of work into style. You supposed it hadn’t been hard, black does go with everything. 

But seriously. If by some miracle you got to be yourself again- and to your embarrassment, there was still a part of you that wanted that, no matter the cost- the first thing on your agenda, after doing your sincere best to pulverize Xehanort, would be dragging this clown over just how absurd his method of fighting was. You’d thought something was wrong with the blade, but no, it was actually that something was wrong with the wielder. Why, Ventus. 

Why. 

Aqua didn’t seem to think anything of it. Clearly, he’d always fought like that. What the hell. Who allowed him to do this? 

“Whose Keyblade was that, by the way?” the Master called through the barrier, during a brief lull. 

“I don’t know! She won't tell me!” 

Aqua gave Sora a curious look, then had to return her attention to the battle. 

Oh no. This woman had spent an eternity in darkness searching for a way to get back to her friends. If she found out about you, she’d ruin everything. She’d probably end up killing Sora to let you out, and then you’d have to die all over again to bring him back. No, thanks. 

Stamping down the tiny bit of you that want to reach out for Aqua, you forcibly dismantled your mind and returned to nothing. 

  


You didn’t wake, but you dreamed again. You were vaguely aware that this had been happening for a while, but they were becoming more vivid and more frequent. 

Always memories. Arriving as brief segments, they shut down the instant you realized it wasn’t real. Or was it you that was shutting down, or someone else? 

In spare moments, you began to piece it together. There was a Replica of you out there. The Organization was using it. Wait. _It?_ You weren’t sure that was accurate, because it- _she_\- was starting to recall your experiences. Not all of them. Nothing after you rejoined Sora. And you definitely weren’t doing it. You didn’t want this imposter Xion becoming you. If the Organization had made her, she still had her marionette strings attached. 

You knew how this worked by now. If you weren’t very, very careful, the call of this body with your heart- a data heart, most likely, but data could become real- would pull you in. You’d become the Organization’s weapon again, and this time, there would be no one to save you. So you resisted. 

It happened again, and again, and again. You’d be drifting in nothingness, and then as if projected by a beacon memories would come flooding into you, and you’d be looking out from behind the eyes of your Replica. It never lasted more than a few seconds. But where were they coming from? The Organization surely wouldn’t try to encourage free will in their new puppet… 

There was only a single vision that wasn’t a memory. It was a nightmare, instead. You watched as one by one Sora and his friends were destroyed by an onrushing tide of shadows, and Sora himself ended up in… almost nowhere. A blank world of ocean and sky. For an instant, you thought you heard Naminé’s voice. 

But then that vision stuttered and rewound, and you forgot it. It had never happened. 

  


You woke up eye to hooded eye with Kairi, and in your shock, she knocked your Keyblade- your original Keyblade, the one that had looked exactly like Sora’s- aside and dealt you a terrible blow. Between that and your Replica rebuffing you yet again, you ricocheted back to your other’s heart. It wasn’t very far away. Kairi, Sora, Lea, and Ventus were fighting Saïx, Xemnas, and… _you._

How dare they make you fight alongside your tormentors? But no, it wasn’t you, you reminded yourself. 

It still hurt. 

You watched helplessly as Kairi was forced to retreat from the battle, collapsing and wheezing for air. Xemnas tried to warp to her and finish her, but Ventus intercepted, and the two of them dueled until your friend too fell groaning into the dirt. Sora tried to race over to help, but Saïx barred his way. 

Rounding on Lea, who was now struggling against your Replica, Xemnas wasted no time in beating down the former assassin. Taunting him and even shattering his Keyblade when Lea made one last ditch attempt to fight back, while your copy watched impassively. Finally, Xemnas raised a blade and stabbed forward. He was going for the kill. 

_No,_ you thought, and to your astonishment your Replica stiffened and grabbed Xemnas’s weapon in midair. But you weren’t even linked to it right now. It was doing this all on its own. Or… her own? No. You didn’t think so. It had been kept on far too short a leash to develop anything resembling a sense of identity. Which made its actions now even more impossible. 

“Changing sides again?” sneered Xehanort’s Nobody. Like you’d ever been on his side. “Oh… yes. You were friends in another life. You do it. You end him in _this_ life, puppet.” 

You saw Xemnas flex his fingers, and the Replica flinched. What had he done to it? He must have taken control of it before, just to show he could. 

If you could do just one thing, if you could enact a single change upon the world, it would be to eradicate every last atom in Xemnas’s body. As for your other self, it hesitated, and lifted its Keyblade. 

Axel stared at its hooded face. You heard him whisper, “It can’t be.” 

Your copy froze in place. Truly and completely stopped, as if time had come to a standstill. Xemnas tried to take control, but whatever it had done, it had locked down its burgeoning heart. 

“Useless _thing._” 

Having somehow managed to find a worse insult than _it_, he kicked your Replica out of the way. Slowly, he approached Lea, red blades extended. 

A soft light drew your attention. On the ground, Ventus was stirring. His Keyblade was _shining,_ the white parts growing brighter and brighter with every second. 

In a blur, he stood and launched himself at Xemnas, who had to vanish and reappear a few meters away to dodge in time. Ventus landed and leaped again, forcing Xemnas farther and farther back from Lea. The glow from his Keyblade faded, but there was a palpable rage in his movements that made even the former leader of the Organization take pause. 

In the background, Sora and Saïx circled each other. You weren’t seeing through your other’s eyes anymore, or those of your copy, though you were now connected to both. You could see everyone. You were hovering over the battlefield, a voiceless ghost, split between bodies and hearts. Behind Lea, Kairi managed to stand, but looked shaky. As Xemnas backed away, eyes narrowing, Ventus spun towards the former Nobody. And when the boy looked at him, you could tell he was thinking of ice cream and sunsets and the best friends he’d forgotten. 

“Axel.” 

The man’s response was a sharp intake of breath, followed by a weary grin and an almost aggressively casual drawl. “No more _‘Axel? Who’s Axel?’_ then? Looks like someone finally remembered.” 

Ventus matched his smile. “I'd got it memorized. Somewhere in here.” 

These dorks. You had missed them. But they didn’t take any more time with their reunion. They trained their gazes on your Replica. Oh no, no, no… 

_Yes,_ a part of you whispered, a voice that was getting louder by the second. You couldn’t pretend it wasn’t there. It had always been there. 

“Is it her?” 

Your Replica… you… your Replica… you were starting to lose track of the difference, now. The pull was becoming stronger and stronger. You watched it unfreeze and drop- or maybe you dropped- the Kingdom Key, which dematerialized, and it (you?) began to wail in pain and clutch its, or your, head. 

“I think it is. Or a copy.” 

At that, Ventus rushed towards his lost friend, and that was when you let go. You tried to leave Sora completely. Even if you risked Xemnas taking control again, you needed to be with your friends. They were here, really _here._

But you found that you couldn’t. You were still tethered to Sora, after all this time you couldn’t just up and leave because you wanted to. You needed something. Something of yours, something unique to you. But you’d given Sora everything. Everything except… 

Ventus had stopped just in front of you. He peered carefully at the hooded, blank figure. 

“Xion?” 

When you gasped, it was with your own mouth. 

Your heart was free of its prison at last. It overtook the feeble one occupying the Replica and cast it out, rejecting it as it had rejected you. And as it exited, you recognized it. 

It wasn’t a copy. It _was_ your heart, ripped from a time just after its creation and placed in this vessel. It barely qualified as a heart, and certainly wasn’t its own person. Not yet. Xemnas had made sure of that, despite that strange interference. But it wouldn’t be like that for long. Even if it wouldn’t remember, it had been exposed to your memories. You suspected that, like so much else in this winding tale, it was a paradox. You had become your own person because your heart had known that you were meant to. 

What a lovely idea. 

It faded back into the past. You felt sorry for all it would have to go through. But after an eternity, it’d be here. It’d reach the end of your long road, and it would grow and grow until you felt like you couldn’t possibly contain it. If dying had been agony, this was the reverse. You were coming back to life, taking back control of your own destiny, reaching out of the depths of darkness and slumber hoisted by the glimmering light of your own name. The name that even in your worst moments you had held tightly onto, refusing to surrender it, always believing that one day you’d need it again, though you’d never admitted that to yourself. And you’d been right. 

You were _Xion._ And you could feel your new body becoming yours, molding to the shape your heart said was true. And solidly, this time. No more changing based on how you felt, or how others thought of you. You had defined yourself, and even you couldn’t change the definition without having to work at it like any other real person. You threw back your hood one last time and smiled in the sunlight. 

You were _Xion._ And you had your friends here, though one was missing. You’d find her. You knew what you felt for her, and you, unlike Sora, had the skills of observation to recognize that she returned your feelings. But for now, you basked in the warmth of knowing that right here were people who cared about you, to whom you’d always been Somebody. 

You were _Xion._ And you were going to beat Saïx and Xemnas to death with the blunt end of your Keyblade. 

You summoned it, and sure enough, it had changed from your old self’s Kingdom Key to the proper, jet-black jagged blade. At some point within Sora, you’d learned that it was called Oblivion. A little heavy-handed, but right now, that suited you just fine. Rounding on a stunned Xemnas after taking just a moment to nod at an ecstatic Ventus, you swung with every bit of your strength, but he regained composure at the last moment and vanished. Oblivion thudded into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust. Suddenly, you heard Kairi cry out from behind you. 

Sora immediately broke off his duel with Saïx at the sound and dashed toward the source, stopping cold a few meters away. The raging Nobody made no attempt to follow, but you moved between them anyway, facing him down. You kept your Keyblade and half an eye trained on Saïx, but spun to see Xemnas holding the struggling Princess of Heart. He was about to step back into a dark corridor with her. Oh, _absolutely not._ Kairi had been a prisoner too many times already, she deserved to see this fight through. As much as if not more than you did. 

The man who’d held you captive in your own body scoffed. “What difference does-” 

You rushed him, not caring in the slightest about whatever nonsense he had to say. Xemnas wouldn’t get away with hurting anyone else on your watch, or for that matter be allowed to keep running his stupid mouth. But the moment you let your guard down, Saïx swatted you aside and you smacked into the wall with an _oof._

Ears ringing, you picked yourself back up as fast as you could, but it was too late. Xemnas, and Kairi, were gone. You glared at Sora, Ventus, and Lea. They’d been closer to her than you. They could have tried something. Anything. But that train of thought was interrupted by Saïx coming at you again, bringing his claymore down in an overhead arc. You raised Oblivion in time, but the two blades locked together, and now you were stuck in a battle of strength with the berserker. Not an optimal position to be in, you thought as your arms protested the effort of holding your Keyblade aloft against the massive weight bearing down on you. You fell down on one knee to brace yourself. 

“Help me out here!” you called. “No, not you, Lea. Get some rest!” 

“Like hell! And call me Axel!” he yelled back. He tried to take a step towards you, but his legs gave out and he collapsed. “Okay,” you heard him groan. “Maybe just… a bit.” Ventus shot him a fond glance, then joined Sora in launching an assault on Saïx. The man grunted and leaped away from you, and you climbed to your feet. 

The three of you stood against the mad Nobody who’d spent so much time tormenting and insulting your old self. For a moment, everything was still, the two sides staring each other down. Then all four of you charged and the battle resumed. You were pretty sure there should be a dramatic soundtrack for this moment, so [you imagined one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MCLTqyL4WY). What a wonderful thing, imagination. Nobodies didn’t have the knack for it, but you didn’t qualify as a Nobody anymore. What you _did_ qualify as, you had no idea. There had probably never been anyone quite like you before, and you found you rather liked that. You weren’t _anyone’s_ copy. You were like your old designation. Unknowable, incomprehensible, but undeniably something that _existed._ For everything else to make sense, you had to exist. For once, you found that you loved your name. 

You felt electrified, humming with energy and power. Your own power, not Sora’s, not Ventus’s. Life and light and yes, darkness too, surged through you. Your life, your light, your darkness. When you spoke, shouting warnings to your teammates, mocking Saïx as he so rightly deserved, it wasn’t in your old, soft near-monotone, or the biting anger or despair you’d shown at rare moments. It was the voice, you realized, you’d developed within Sora. You had developed as a person even while trying to revert to void. Your speech _bounced._ Flowing, varied, _alive_ in a way it never had been before. It was your voice, sure enough, but it sounded… 

Happy. 

You started to laugh as you fought, cackling and whooping as you drove the blue berserker back nearly single-handed. Sora looked a little alarmed, but Ventus was smiling and Axel bore an exhausted grin as he watched you from the sidelines. 

None of you could quite hold up against the man on your own. He was impossibly strong, and seemed to shrug off blows like he hadn’t even felt them. So you worked together, as if you were still all inhabiting one body. You took Saïx head on. He seemed to be even more enraged at the sight of you and answered your challenge. Perhaps he remembered that you’d taunted him as he lay dying after Sora slew him the first time. When he got the upper hand on you, Sora stepped in, intercepting what would have been a deadly swing of his weapon. And all the while, Ventus, who even after remembering his time as Roxas insisted on using that just so unbelievably _stupid_ technique with his messed-up Keyblade, harried and harassed Saïx from odd angles. Every now and then, the Nobody would turn and try to swat him, but Ventus was too fast. 

At one point, while Ventus had Saïx running ragged trying to catch him, Sora called, “Xion! So that’s your name?” 

“Yes, Sora. Yes it is.” You beamed at him. 

And then, with a roar, Saïx sent Ventus flying and was on you before you could respond, throwing you backwards. 

The blue claymore was millimeters from your face, and creeping closer. You had reacted too late to bring up your Keyblade properly. The two weapons were hilt to hilt, you desperately trying to push his upward without any real leverage. 

“Once a puppet, always a puppet,” the scarred man snarled. “It cannot win, even against nothing at all.” 

Sora and Ventus rose up behind Saïx like avenging wraiths, and struck at the Nobody’s lower half, silver and black arcs sweeping through him. 

The berserker’s eyes finally showed pain, and his legs gave out. The claymore slipped out of his hands. You managed to nudge it sideways so it hit the dirt uselessly. Your Keyblade was free. Your enemy was kneeling before you. 

This was your moment. 

“You’re right about one thing. A puppet couldn’t do _this_,” you growled, and drove Oblivion through Saïx’s chest. 

There was no blood when you yanked your weapon out of him. That wasn’t how Keyblades worked. But something holding him together had been… well. Unlocked. It was a key, after all. The chains that secured his being were crumbling. The connection between his heart- or whatever he had that made him Saïx- and this Replica had been demolished, and now both were returning to nothing. 

You gave him a few moments to realize what had happened, in which he let out some horrible choking noises, trembled, and collapsed. He gasped for air, clawing at the dust with fingers that were turning into scraps of shadow. It wasn’t a fast process. After watching the pathetic display for a duration you deemed sufficient, you raised Oblivion again and stepped forward. 

This time, you’d go for the head. You’d shatter his already broken mind. 

“Xion! Stop!” 

You halted. “Axel?” 

He had staggered over, and almost fell back to the ground as he peered down at the dying Saïx. You caught him and propped him up, swapping your Keyblade to your other hand to keep it trained on your enemy. “Be careful. He might try something.” 

“He’s done, Xion. I need to talk to him.” 

“Are you sure?” You knew the two had history, but whoever Saïx was now, he wasn’t who Axel remembered. 

“Yes.” He stood up a little straighter, taking his weight off you. “Please… give us a moment.” 

“Fine,” you said, dismissing your Keyblade and turning away. Then you whirled back around and kicked Saïx in the ribs. He grunted in pain, and Axel winced. 

“Listen up, blue bastard. You pull something sneaky, and not only will I break you, I’ll hunt you down afterwards and do it again for every _single_ time you called me _it._ I’ve been through hell and come out stronger, I won’t hesitate to visit you there just to ensure they’re making you suffer to my satisfaction.” 

Hmm. Was this who you wanted to be? Probably not, as fun as that had been to say. At least, not after Xehanort was defeated. And he _would_ be defeated. Until then... you'd use every weapon at your disposal, every one of your new, suddenly so very vivid emotions. 

“I’ll… I’ll keep that… in mind, Xion.” The vanishing Nobody rasped. 

Saying your name didn’t earn him any points. In fact, it made you a little angrier. He didn’t deserve to speak to you, much less utter something so precious. But he was fading faster and faster, and Axel still needed to say whatever it was he needed to say. You backed off, keeping a careful eye on Saïx from afar as the two of them spoke. Ventus was looking at you a little wide-eyed. 

Soon enough, Saïx ended. You watched every last bit of shadow melt into nothing. Sora, always on the hunt for another battle to throw himself into, had already run off. Oh, right, you remembered. Kairi. Well, you were going to go after Xemnas next anyway. It could wait a moment, though. 

You, Axel, and Ventus stared at each other. You were all here. All alive. In a way, it hadn’t just been a long time, it had never happened before at all. 

“Guess I should have brought some ice cream, huh,” said Axel shakily. In this moment of rest, he just seemed drained. Emotionally and physically. You supposed he’d been close to Saïx once. And he had just watched his old friend die again, at the hands of his new friends. _After_ being soundly beaten (you, or at least this body, bore some responsibility for that, but considering your history, fair was fair) and having his Keyblade destroyed in front of him. It’d reform soon enough, but Axel was having a pretty rough day. Unlike you or Ventus. Both of you were actually doing pretty damn well all things considered. You were having the time of your life, because now you knew it was _your_ life. 

Something told you that you were supposed to be crying. But you didn’t feel like crying. You weren’t sad. You were the happiest you’d ever been, the most _you_ you’d ever been. And what every bit of you wanted to do was rush over and hug these two idiots who had called you back from the dark. 

So you did. 

  


Soon after, you found yourself fighting alongside Ventus and Riku. The latter was fighting Ansem, something he looked almost bored to be doing. Your oldest friend took on the youngest version of Xehanort, and you faced down Xemnas with a cold fury. 

Far above, Sora and Mickey (seriously, _who was that_, you’d missed your chance to find out as part of Sora and you’d have to ask, it was going to be so awkward) were attempting to get at Master Xehanort. The old man had summoned a barrier, and try as the two Keyblade heroes might, they couldn’t break it. They flailed helplessly against an impenetrable wall of darkness. 

Xemnas had not yet made a move to control you. You had a plan to deal with it if he did, but you weren’t sure if you would succeed. It was all you could do to keep up with the warping and annoying laughter and _fucking hell so many lasers._ No one else got lasers. Or, at least, you conceded, not quite that many. It really wasn’t fair. 

Your concentration was broken by a cry of _“stop”_ from the Xehanort that had to be around Aqua’s age. You looked over in horror to see that Ventus was frozen in place, and now his enemy was calmly walking up to him. That dumbass. He could probably have avoided the spell if he wasn’t so insistent on fighting with his back turned half the time. 

Your own opponent kept you too occupied to help him. Ventus unfroze and was sent flying, thudding into the dirt with a wheeze of pain. In an instant, his foe was over him again, raising his massive weapon for one final blow that would split your friend heart from body and cast both into shadow. 

In slow motion, you watched as young Xehanort brought his Keyblade down on Ventus. He wasn’t going to be able to dodge. Even if you took the immense risk of turning your back on the Nobody, you couldn’t get to him in time… but, you remembered something you’d done as part of Sora. And something Sora had done when you were part of him. Maybe you could bring him to you, to save him. Even if it was just his heart, that would be enough for him to be restored easily later. 

It wasn’t that different from reaching out across Sora’s connection. You hadn’t realized just how many connections you had. Gripping Ventus’s, you pulled as hard as you could, trying to drag him to safety. 

You pulled a bit too hard. 

When everything stopped spinning, you were looking out from Ventus’s eyes. Or you were looking out from Xion’s eyes. Or they were _the same eyes._

Huh. You were Xion, and you were Ventus. Ventus had been drawn into Xion again, you realized, and not just his heart. Your minds and bodies had become one as well. It wasn’t permanent, you felt that if you tried, it would be a simple matter to become two people again. But for right now… You were a single target. Harder to hit. And _you’d_ hit twice as hard, you thought, summoning Ventus’s Keyblade in your left hand. You’d done this all before, but his time, you and Ventus were united as equals. Two hearts, one person, one mind, all dead set on wiping out these yellow-eyed motherfuckers. 

What was your name? You had time to think about it. Both your opponents were struck dumb from incredulity, and even Ansem had paused in astonishment before Riku, shrugging off whatever you’d done as just another wild twist in a day of wild twists, took the opportunity to get in a sneaky hit. Whatever master plan the Xehanorts had, you didn’t think you’d figured into it. The end result might be the same, Kingdom Hearts would be summoned regardless, but you definitely enjoyed throwing a quick wrench into their expectations. Everyone’s expectations. 

For an instant, you thought _Roxi,_ but no, of course that wasn’t right. Names were important. A label could change the contents, if you weren’t careful. 

_Veion._ Simple and elegant. And fairly androgynous. You were definitely a _they._

You wondered idly what you looked like. Xion and Ventus would have to ask Riku later. Or if this was something you could manage to do again, you could just find a mirror. You didn’t think you’d be able to maintain this forever, nor did you want to. You were two separate people, after all, with your own lives and hearts. But for this fight- the two Xehanorts charged, and you stopped both their attacks cold- you were perfectly happy to be as one again. 

Like this, and the Xion part of you groaned at the realization while the Ventus half whooped, Ventus’s hideous backwards Keyblade actually _worked._ You took on the young Xehanort and Xemnas by yourself, whirling and dodging and weaving through the battle. There were no gaps to be found in your defense, and your assault was relentless. From behind, Ventus’s Keyblade deflected any attempt from the teenage villain to interfere. And in front, Oblivion came for Xemnas, driving the one-time leader of the Organization back. 

Then, something happened that you’d been waiting for. The body Xion had gained, though it was hers now, had originally been a Replica of her from soon after her creation. And even as Veion, the marionette strings were still there. Xemnas reached for them, lifting a hand… 

And when he did, you took hold of the strings yourself and tore your way into _Xemnas’s_ mind. Your combined power and fury overrode his cold resolve, and you made him, before he could even try to fight back, warp behind his younger counterpart and run him through. 

That was symbolic, probably. Slain by his own hand, sending himself back to walk the path his future self had laid out. You didn’t feel sympathy for Xehanort. How could you? But it occurred to you that his choices were etched into this mess of a timeline. In fact, you suspected that his choices defined what the timeline was, with no room for variation of any significance. The details could change, maybe. In another world, Xion could have lost the duel with Roxas, and all this might be different for her. But not for Xehanort, not really. What a sad existence that must be. 

All the more reason to end it, you supposed, as young Xehanort turned to smoke. His presence was limiting the worlds, binding them to his desires and assumptions. Without him, they could grow in every direction, encompassing anything anyone could possibly imagine. 

These were strange thoughts. Neither Xion nor Ventus had the perspective to draw these conclusions, but as Veion you could cross-reference everything the two of you had experienced, including a whole host of information from Ventus’s buried memories that until this moment had still been lost. And more than that, your combined recollections seemed to include things that hadn’t happened. Or at least, hadn’t happened in this version of events. Your mind went to an odd memory, where it was Xion fading away below the clock tower, and Roxas leaning over her. 

Had he really said… uh, wow. And Xion had thought Sora was the one best suiting the word “buffoon.” 

Embarrassment welled up in you from both sides. But you were sidetracked from pondering alternate timelines when Xemnas’s will surged against yours, seeking vengeance for his fallen compatriot. 

You didn’t bother trying to fight Xemnas for control of his mind. You didn’t know that you would win, and besides, that isn’t how you _wanted_ to win. You let him push you out, and did not resist as he destroyed the marionette strings himself with a snap of his fingers. 

“So, the puppet and the lost boy have-” Yeah, no. Shut _up,_ Xemnas. Whatever monologue he’d planned was interrupted by a grunt of effort as he was forced to block both your Keyblades, one after the other. 

Warping away, he trapped you in a sphere of glowing red dots. You’d seen this attack before. He’d used it against both Sora and Axel. It didn’t scare you. It meant he was getting desperate. 

One by one, the points of energy rocketed towards you, and one by one, you deflected each of them. It was a simple matter. Sora and Riku had done it as two people easily enough, and you had an advantage. The concept of a fixed “now” was a little… fuzzy for you, in both directions. You remembered which ones were going to strike, and danced through the storm effortlessly. When Xemnas growled and sent every remaining laser towards you at once, you spun, collected the shards of power on your Keyblades, and sent them spiraling towards your enemy. 

He stood back, up, smoking, in time to see you approaching him at speed, twin weapons flashing. The leader of the Organization projected a barrier in front of him. You didn’t slow down. 

It was time for you, and Xemnas, to _split._

You, now Xion, dodged to the left, while Ventus sidestepped to the right, around the barrier. In one simultaneous motion, the two of you leapt towards Xemnas, passing each other and sending your Keyblades tearing through his body in one lightning fast sweep. 

His low gasp of pain came alongside a scream of rage from Ansem, as Riku stabbed his Keyblade through the heart of his enemy. The Xehanorts fell, kneeling in the dirt. 

The young Keyblade Master dispatched his old puppeteer quickly. It was your turn. 

To Ventus, you said, “Together?” 

“Together.” 

You were Veion again, and you crossed your two weapons around your former leader’s neck. 

“I… I _feel_…” 

You didn’t care. You swiped your Keyblades through him one last time, and Xemnas burst into shadows which disintegrated into nothing. He was gone, at last. For good. 

“Um.” 

You turned, dismissing your Keyblades. Axel was standing there, face pale, like he was about to faint. He looked as though he was barely holding onto sanity. And behind him were two others with similar expressions. Your mutual friend spoke shakily. “…Guys? Is that… what the _fuck._” 

You, as Veion, grinned. You, as Veion, said, “Hey, Axel. Terra. Aqua. Been-” 

You unfused. 

“-a hell of a day, huh,” you, as Xion, finished, in unison with Ventus. 

Aqua started laughing hysterically. The man that as Veion you had learned was Terra sighed, looking at Ventus like he just didn’t know what to do with him anymore. And Axel fell over backwards, making the other two catch him. 

  


It was over. Xehanort was gone. But so was Kairi, and Sora had chased after her. 

Unlike Xehanort, Kairi was somewhere. You knew that, and you’d told Sora before his final battle. You’d stayed out of it. Kingdom Hearts needed to be contained, and unlike him, you knew which fights were yours and which weren’t. That’s why he was the hero, and you were not. You were fine with that. 

You weren’t certain if Kairi would make it. A tentative attempt to pull her to you failed. The connection was far too weak to work across worlds, assuming that was at all possible. You weren’t even sure you’d be able to do it with Kairi if she was right here next to you. You’d never been nearly as close to her as you were to her Nobody. 

Her Nobody. 

You stared into the endless field of broken Keys for some time. Maybe… 

It didn’t take long for you to find her, drifting in the darkness between dimensions. And of course, your link was more than strong enough. You felt _certain_ you could pull her to you if you tried. 

You stopped. Naminé didn’t have a body right now, and you doubted you could create one. Doing it like this would freak her out. And that wasn’t what you wanted your reunion to be. Instead, across realities, you whispered to her: 

_We’re coming for you._

Her heart murmured sleepily in response. 

Someone clapped you on the back, and you jumped. For a moment, you almost lashed out with your Keyblade when you saw the shape of his face, and then you took in his full appearance. Brown hair. Not silver. You relaxed. 

“Xion, right? Hey, Ven sent me over to fetch you. He seemed to think we’d get along.” 

You vaguely remembered, piecing together information you’d taken from Sora and still retained from being Veion, that Terra had spent the last _decade_ as Xehanort’s vessel. His body had been Xemnas, his heart had been Ansem’s weapon. Poor bastard. Still, what the hell, Ventus. You didn’t know this guy. 

“Because we were both puppets? That's not-” 

“No,” said Terra, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Apparently, we both have a violent streak.” 

Oh. _Dammit._ It was going to be hard to argue with Ventus about that sort of thing, now that you’d shared a mind and body. Again. 

“C’mon. I don’t really know what’s going on, and they promised to catch me up, but right now? I need a nap. It’s been about ten years.” 

You weren’t sure you’d _ever_ taken a nap. Been in a coma for weeks, ceased to exist for whole spans of time, and been harassed by uncontrolled memories at night, sure. But a nap? That was new. 

You voiced this, and Terra laughed. It sounded rusty. “Then come with us. We’re going to some wizard’s tower. I think I met him once? Whatever. He’d better be able to conjure a mattress, or I’m passing out on his floor.” 

Following him, you looked around at all the others, seeing a mixture of relief and worry… and, for some reason, what appeared to be a second Riku in a bizarre outfit. If he’d been there before, you hadn’t noticed. He looked somewhat younger and extremely nervous. You were too tired to be curious about this. 

  


Yen Sid, whoever that was exactly, had indeed managed to conjure places for you and everyone else to sleep before heading to his office to speak with Mickey- you _still_ had never found time to ask what that creature was, though you thought Veion had known- at length. New rooms could appear and disappear at his desire, and it was a simple matter for him to provide somewhere to rest. You’d thank him later. 

You laid alone, in a room that every time you looked, appeared more and more like the one you’d had in the fake Twilight Town. It made sense. That was the only real “bedroom” you’d ever had, and this place liked to suit its occupants. 

You didn’t want to sleep. You didn’t want to dream. 

Dream… 

What if this was all another dream? What if when you woke, you’d be still trapped inside Sora? What if this was what happened every time you stopped existing, and at any moment, you could be torn away back into reality? And even if this was reality, what were you supposed to _do_ now? 

Soft footsteps rang out, and you shifted to see Ventus kneel down next to you. He’d retreated to the room next to yours, somehow also tired despite his ten-year rest. You sat up, and he spoke. “Hey. I thought you were over here getting upset.” 

“I can’t even _mope_ without you knowing now? I should never have saved you like that.” 

He shook his head. “No, Xion, I didn’t _sense_ anything. You make these noises when you’re overwhelmed or distressed or whatever. Like, little stuttering whines, instead of actually crying. You were doing it after we fought Saïx. Didn’t you have a dog once? I think he rubbed off on you.” 

You wanted to kick him, but that would just prove him right about your “violent streak.” 

Thinking about this further, you decided you didn’t care, and kicked him anyway. 

“Ow.” He wasn’t hurt. You hadn’t put any force behind the blow. “So what’s up? We won. Sora will be back with Kairi in no time. Everything is fine.” 

You sighed. “Maybe. I just… I was so happy to exist again. But the idea of existing tomorrow? And the day after that? And next _month?_ It sounds so exhausting. I might be… uh… sixteen-ish? But really, I’ve only _lived_ for like, a year.” 

Ventus had a faraway look in his eyes. “I’ve lost a lot of my life. I think I remembered all of it when we were Veion, but then it slipped away again. I don’t mind too much. I still lived it. And if I’m meant to remember, I will.” 

“Really? You’re happy with that?” 

“Why shouldn’t I be? I remembered you and Axel when I needed to.” 

You smiled, and he got up to leave. 

“No,” you said, grabbing his hand. “Stay.” 

“Okay.” 

Naps? Good. Naps with a friend next to you? Definitely one of the best things about being alive, you thought, as you drifted off. 

And for once, you didn’t dream. 

  


The first order of business was obvious, and you, Ventus, and Axel went to Radiant Garden. Aqua came too, saying she had to fetch something of hers, and split off from the rest of you on arrival. 

You didn’t quite trust Zexion- wait, no, Ienzo- at first. He’d been Organization. But the two of you had never really interacted, and he seemed dead set on bringing Naminé back. That was enough for you to make peace with him. 

Ansem the Wise, on the other hand. DiZ. Now there was a man you wanted words with. Or maybe, not words. 

Okay. It was possible that you had a violent streak. 

However, you didn’t show it this time. When the old man saw you, he _cried._ Full on blubbered, apologizing and begging your forgiveness for all that he’d said and done to both of you. You didn’t absolve him. Not right away. But you helped pick him up off the ground. And you didn’t break any limbs. 

Or lay a hostile hand on him at all. You were a little surprised by that, yourself. Then again… this man had also been trying to restore the person you wanted more than anything to see. If he pulled it off, you’d forgive him. And you _had_ promised yourself that you'd try to restrain yourself in that regard. You were still settling, learning to deal with the intensity of being a Somebody. You didn't think that rage was something you should encourage in yourself. 

If he ever called you _it_ again, though… you knew where he slept. Well, no, you didn’t. But you would find out. 

Now, you stood over a blank Replica. It was kind of unnerving, thinking that you and at this point a decent few among your comrades had once been one of these featureless vessels. Then again, what did appearance matter? It was the heart that counted. You knew that better than most. 

“We’re nearly ready,” said Ienzo, absolutely buzzing in his element. “We just need to establish a link between the vessel, baited with data from the time she entered the other Twilight Town, and the host’s original heart. That may be difficult without her Somebody, so I was planning to wait until-” 

No. The look in your eye made him stop midsentence. “I can bring her here. Right now. If I do, and then release her, will she end up in the Replica? Will it become her?” 

“Well, yes, theoretically, but how do you intend to-” 

You ignored whatever else he had to say and focused on a connection that, while just as strong as a couple of others, felt a little different than any of them. 

After whispering something you knew she wouldn’t hear, you pulled. 

For the briefest of moments, you weren’t just Xion. But Naminé’s heart was weak, and you couldn’t maintain yourself. But that was fine, you thought as you became Xion again, that was the idea. 

And then the Replica in front of you lit up brightly, forcing you, as much as you tried to fight the instinct, to look away. 

When the light faded, Naminé was there, sleeping peacefully. 

She was here. Completely and truly _here,_ and as real as real can be. Both of you were, for the first time in your brief existences. 

You took an unconscious step forward, but in what was a remarkable act of bravery on his part, Ienzo moved between you. “She’ll be out for a while. In the meantime…” His eyes sparkled, and he raised a notepad. “Please, I need to know what you did. It may be an entirely new power of the heart, something we’ve never seen before-” 

You really didn't want to sit down and have a chat with him about this. “Call me when she’s up. _As soon as_ she’s up. Or just before, if you can manage it.” Then you walked out, despite Ienzo’s protests. 

  


The overeager scientist summoned you not too long afterwards. You had spent the intervening time getting, for the first time in your life, _real clothes._ Initially, you had hesitated to accept Aqua’s help. You wanted something simple, and while her outfit was undeniably excellent, it wasn’t anything that could be called simple. However, Aqua had no real trouble limiting herself, and soon enough you were dressed in a black blouse and grey skirt. The whole affair had slightly too many buttons and a rather unnecessary belt, but considering what some of the more exotic denizens of Radiant Garden were wearing, it was probably the best you were going to be able to do. You were also a fan of the boots. You’d modified your Organization shoes to be heeled back in the day, similar to Larxene’s, but you’d never actually liked them. It had just been the only thing you could really do at the time to be… yourself. You didn’t need to take those kinds of extreme measures anymore. No one was making you wear a heavy coat all the time. It felt weird to have skin showing, to be unable to hide your face if you needed to. 

Wait, not weird. That wasn’t the word. 

The word was _wonderful._

Axel, being slightly more intelligent than Sora or Ventus in these matters, had picked up on what your aggressively restrained nervousness meant, and shooed an objecting Ienzo out of the room. Shortly thereafter, Naminé began to stir. 

Since you couldn’t possibly think of anything more appropriate, you said, “Hey.” 

Her eyes opened as a smile crept across her face. “Hey.” 

But when she began to sit up and look around the room, her eyes fell on Axel. She stiffened. 

You had never seen Naminé angry. You had been Nobodies, after all. Maybe you’d had hearts, but emotions were still difficult to come by. The fury on her face more than anything proved that, like you, she was no longer a Nobody. It also proved that you were completely hopeless. Holy _shit._

She raised a hand, and immediately Axel shuddered and fell to one knee. 

Did she think... “Naminé! It’s okay. He’s with us.” 

“I can see that,” she hissed out, “and I can also see he now has ties to Sora. Which means I can do _this._” 

Axel gasped and clutched his head. “I’m… I’m sorry,” he managed. “I was awful to you. Back then.” 

“Hmm,” Naminé intoned, as you rounded on Axel. 

“What did you do to her?” 

An increasingly panicked Ventus spoke up. “Everyone, please, calm down! Xehanort’s gone! We’ve all made mistakes here, but-” 

“I haven’t, at least not ones that hurt people other than me,” you said. “And I have yet to see evidence that she has.” 

Suddenly, Naminé let go. Axel sagged, and Ventus had to catch him. “No, I have,” said the witch. “More than you know, Xion. And one of them I made just now.” She stood, brushing past you and helping Axel up. “I’m sorry. But I had to make sure. You’ve been a good friend to them, despite everything. You’re forgiven.” 

“Th-thank you,” stuttered out Axel. He took a moment to wipe away a tear- of pain or otherwise- as smoothly as he could. “Hey, Ventus. Let’s give these two a moment.” 

“But why-” 

“Come _on,_ Ven.” He led the protesting boy out the door, leaving you alone with Naminé. 

“Do you know… about Kairi?” You didn’t want to keep bad news from her. Your voice had become soft again, to your surprise, though it still sounded much more alive than it had as a Nobody. You'd been imitating Sora's boisterousness, and even though you'd been trying to contain it, there had been a sharp edge to your speech, borne from fury over all that you had to suffer. But here and now, you felt some of that anger drain away. An old wound began to heal. 

She nodded. “She’s not gone. I was torn away from her, but she’s not gone.” 

“And Sora?” 

“No?” Her eyes narrowed. “What has he done? I put a lot of work into fixing him the first time.” 

You told her, and she sighed. 

“That sounds about right.” 

“Yeah. I'm glad we aren’t stuck as part of them.” She froze, and you panicked. You hadn’t actually considered… “Do you. Is that. Is that still something you want?” 

Still the wrong thing to say. She burst into tears. Oh, no. What had you done? 

But she wasn’t mad at you. Instead, she took your hand and squeezed. “I… I never really wanted to go. I just thought. I thought it was what we had to do. I thought… _DiZ_ made me think…” 

She turned to you, cheeks sparkling in the cold light of the laboratory. “I was hoping you would say something, when we returned to them together. To stop it. To ask them to, if they could, help us.” 

You laughed. “I was hoping _you’d_ say something.” 

“Wow.” She smiled through her tears. “We really are _their_ Nobodies, aren’t we.” 

“No, we’re our own Somebodies. It’s just that spending too much time around Sora will make anyone a little stupid. The trick is, it works on villains too.” 

Naminé smiled again, but was still sniffling. She needed a distraction. Something to cheer her up. 

“Oh, of course,” you said, making yourself pull your hand away. “There’s something I want you to see.” 

  


Presently, you returned with your friend, and Naminé, now resting on the slab she’d woken up on, smiled when you entered the room. You gave her a grin in return, almost tripping as you walked to her side and sat down next to her. 

"I have something to show you. Kairi didn’t see it, so I don’t think you would have either.” 

“Oh?” 

“It’s... a lot. I’m not entirely certain how it works, but I guess if Sora’s powers let him send himself to others, tracking them down across worlds, then it makes sense that mine would… or maybe it’s because I was _made_ to… Wait, I don’t actually care. Just watch.” 

She gave you a teasing shove. “Well, go on then!” 

You broke eye contact with her to find that Ventus was looking back and forth between the two of you. His expression changed slowly from puzzlement to surprise to… 

You glared at him, and his smile vanished. He avoided meeting your eyes, very interested in the surrounding lab equipment all of a sudden. But you could see the edges of his mouth twitching. 

So Sora was the only one still sitting at zero in terms of awareness of this sort of thing, huh. He’d have to catch up fast, or Kairi and Riku would end up killing him. Assuming this little escapade of his didn’t. But right now, you had other things to focus on. 

You made a _wait here_ motion at Naminé and slipped over to Ventus. “Hey,” you said quietly. “Do the Veion thing with me?” 

Ventus became alert, scanning your surroundings, as if you’d just said that you were about to be attacked. “Why?” 

“They wanted to find out what they looked like,” you whispered. “She’s an artist.” 

“Oh. Yeah, sure! Ready?” 

You turned towards Naminé. “Get ready, and if you feel up to it… maybe draw what you see?” 

Seconds later, you were Veion, and seconds after that, you were Xion again, rushing over to Naminé’s side. You had unfused so fast that Ventus had smacked into some computer terminal from the force of the division. Whoops. You’d have to apologize for that. 

The expression on Naminé’s face had not been one you’d been expecting. Incredulity, shock, or bemusement, sure. But not immediate and extreme distress. 

“Naminé!” 

The moment you were within reach, she took hold of your arm. Tightly. “Xion, I… I’m sorry, I… you just _disappeared._ Became part of someone else, again. I couldn’t… I didn’t… It scared me. So much.” 

“It’s okay,” you said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think.” You looked up to see Ventus leaving the room and mouthed _sorry_ to him. He shrugged and responded in kind, _later._ You turned your attention back to Naminé. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise. I’m here to stay.” 

“Thank you, Xion.” 

You and she talked, and talked, about nothing and everything. 

A young man in a lab coat burst into the lab a few minutes later. “We got some incredible readings from this room after you and Ventus went in a while ago, our instruments were going haywire, what did-” 

“Go away, Ienzo,” said two voices in unison. 

  


Naminé had decided to stay in the castle to rest for a while. You had informed her that Ansem the Wise was around, if wholly repentant, and she’d nodded. “I’ll hear him out,” she’d said. 

So now you were walking around Radiant Garden with Axel and Ventus, while the former was trying to convince you that the man who was arguably your worst enemy had reformed when he’d, well, reformed. 

“No, I don't think so.” 

“Xion, please. He just… he just got caught up in it all. He was jealous of our friendship and took it out on you and Roxas. He admitted as much.” 

“Maybe, but _it_ isn’t a great thing to be called, Axel.” 

“I know, but… you did kind of kill him. And, while I entirely understand why, _brutally._ Can’t you call it square?” 

You gave this idea careful consideration. “He will say the following: ‘I’m sorry, Miss Xion.’ And then I will punch him anyway, and after _that_, we’ll be square.” 

Axel looked relieved. “Thank you.” 

“But if he-” 

“He won’t.” 

“Good. Then I won’t.” 

Suddenly, you stopped. You could see your reflection in a passing window. And besides the fact that you looked _very_ good, it meant you could find out something. 

“Ven.” 

The boy returned from whatever plane of reality he’d been spacing out to while Axel had been talking to you. “What?” 

You indicated the window. Behind it, some spiky-haired guy with an impractically large sword strapped to his back eyeballed the three passerby who had paused in front of what appeared to be a coffee shop. There were an alarming number of people matching that description around, you’d observed. This place was strange. 

It took him a moment, but he got there. "Oh, right!" He took a step towards you. 

“Wait, are you two going to…” Axel looked pale. You remembered how Naminé had reacted. 

“Don’t worry, Axel. It’s easily undone. And Ven, why don’t you try to do it this time?” You’d been meaning to find out if it was something unique to you, or just something you’d discovered. 

“What? How?” 

You described how you did it, though you got the impression that Ventus was barely following. He screwed up his eyes and focused… and thirty seconds passed with absolutely nothing happening. “It’s okay, Ven.” 

He grinned sheepishly. “Looks like it’s your thing. Go ahead.” 

Moments later, you were Veion. 

You were, as you’d felt, fairly androgynous. Your clothes had melded together sensibly. Your skin tone was somewhere between Xion’s and Ventus’s, and while the difference was slight, you had one eye from each counterpart. Both sides of you agreed this was pretty cool. As for your hair, it was almost randomly split into sections of blonde and black, with one side being a decent bit straighter than Ventus’s and then spiking up dramatically on the other. It honestly didn’t look that great. But you couldn’t have everything. 

Turning away from the window, behind which the man with the sword had spat out his drink, you made the decision to not try to sift through Ventus’s old memories. It was kind of a lot, and you were already starting to get a headache trying to keep yourself in the present. Without something to focus on, something to _fight_, this really wasn’t sustainable. But for now, you walked onward, leaving a stunned Axel to catch up. 

“Guys, uh… do you. Know who I am?” 

You laughed. “Axel, I've got you memorized in every single timeline.” And you did. While the branches of possibility weren’t infinite- something which made you a little worried that something, if not Xehanort, was still limiting them- they had expanded dramatically since before his defeat. It was beginning to be overwhelming fast. You located a bench and sat down, and your friend joined you. 

“How does it feel… Veion?” Xion had told him your name earlier. 

“Pretty neat.” You decided not to elaborate on the timeline thing. His expression when you’d said that had been one of considerable consternation. “Xion and Ventus have been friends through so much, and have a decent amount in common. I’m more or less those bonds personified.” 

You didn’t hear Axel’s response. Something was bothering you. In some cases, you had Roxas’s memories too. In others, you didn’t. This led to an alarming conclusion, which crept up on you and in a flash split you apart. 

You were Xion again, and you turned to Ventus, breathing heavily. “There were. There were times when he was his own person. And because of what I did…” 

Despite your distress, Axel looked relieved to have the two of you back. Ventus took your hands in his. “Listen to me, Xion. Roxas did what I would have done, because I was him. You didn’t do anything like what I would have done, or what Sora would have done. Maybe I would have splintered, if I’d taken you into me, if I’d had the time to develop within Sora like you did. But for my entire existence as Roxas in _this_ reality, I was always me, even when I didn’t remember. And you were always you, even when you thought you were someone else.” 

You weren’t sad, hearing this. But this time, you cried anyway. Truly, properly cried. You’d earned it. 

  


There was one more thing you had to discuss, and you decided to do so as you, Ventus, Terra, Axel, and Aqua were wandering Twilight Town together a few hours later. Naminé had elected to stay in Radiant Garden for a while, and get used to being her own person again. You’d offered to stay with her, but she’d insisted that “by herself” was kind of the point. “Later,” she’d promised. 

The subject you were going to raise was of critical importance. Possibly the most necessary conversation to occur in this entire eon-spanning saga of light and darkness and hearts. You waited until the three older Keyblade wielders were having some discussion of their own, then spoke up. “Ventus?” 

“Yes?” 

“You know that I care about you very much.” You kept your voice completely deadpan. 

He blinked. “…Yes?” 

“We need to talk about how you hold your Keyblade, Ventus.” 

“What?” He flushed. 

“It’s bad, Ventus.” 

“No! No,” he protested, starting to laugh. “It’s cool.” 

“Ventus. Ven, listen to me. I’m your friend, and friends listen to each other when one says the other is being an idiot. And while I’m certainly a fan of the upgrade to its appearance, which was _also_ bad, you look just. Unbelievably stupid when you hold it like that. When you were Roxas, you didn’t do that. I’m not sure I’d have been your friend if you did. Fighting with a stick was one thing, but that? That's the worst." 

You were (almost) entirely kidding, of course, and he knew that. “That’s because _Roxas_ didn’t remember how cool it looked.” 

“Ventus, _please._” From behind you, you picked up the sound of someone just barely failing to hold back a laugh, and you spun to find Aqua with her hand over her mouth. On either side of her, Terra and Axel were grinning. “Hey, Keyblade Master. You’ve had to put up with this boy for much longer. Back me up here.” 

The older girl lowered her hand to reveal a smile. “I can’t possibly comment.” 

“I can,” Terra said, sounding every bit like a teasing older brother. “Ven, she’s right.” 

Even Axel chimed in. “Yeah, Ven. I thought it was silly back when I first met you, and _I_ was wielding two frisbees.” 

“I hate you guys,” choked out Ventus, laughing so hard tears were streaking down his face. “I hate you so much.” 

“Ven,” you said, starting to giggle uncontrollably yourself. “Ven. The Keyblade goes in _front_ of you, Ven.” 

“Honestly, Ven, I never had the heart to say it, but…” 

“I’m with her. I certainly wouldn’t have been your friend if you’d committed that atrocity as Roxas.” 

“I know I’m not one to talk, but you _definitely_ had some traces of darkness in you, no matter what Xehanort said he did. Only a monster would do that to a poor Keyblade.” 

But Ventus wouldn’t budge. Well, then, you supposed you had another cause to fight for. And you would, come fire and fury and having to deal with this lovable doofus every day of your life. 

  


To your utter amazement, someone called your name as you walked through the town. “Xion!” 

You spun to see… Hayner, Pence, and Olette. For a moment, you felt a wave of spine-chilling terror, then realized that the data versions must have been taken from actual people. You _were_ in the real world. But then how the hell did they know your name? 

“How do you…” you gaped. 

“Long story," said Olette. "This, uh, might sound crazy, but we know we were all friends in that other Twilight Town. Do you know anything about that? And, I don’t know, you think you might want to try again?” 

“...Yes. Yes, I’d enjoy that.” 

You hadn’t planned to have a full seven people with you as you all made your way up to the clock tower, guiding the only two who hadn’t been before. But it was nice. 

Talking to Hayner, Pence, and Olette was unbelievably strange, but you found that you liked them. You’d liked them in data form, and the real versions were, well, more _real._ More… them. Every trait was exaggerated, including Hayner’s hot-headedness and imbecility, apparently. 

“Wait. _Who_ did you try to land a _flying kick_ on? Describe him.” 

“Tall, long silver hair with weird spikes, voice like a cartoon antagonist, like… the kind who talks for an hour while the protagonists go about defeating him. Oh, and he summoned a giant shadow monster. It owned Hayner.” 

“Not cool, bro.” 

Your mouth had fallen open at Pence’s words. “You… you attacked _Ansem._ He could have destroyed you. Torn you heart from body and then reduced both to _ashes._” 

Hayner shrugged. “It worked out all right, though!” 

Slowly, the story came out, mostly from Olette as the other two bickered. How they’d suddenly remembered you all at once, how they’d started investigating the old mansion and rescued Ansem the Wise. How they’d determined that the Organization had recently made a copy of you, and started broadcasting the data recovered from the other Twilight Town computer terminal at your Replica, trying to wake up your real heart. You’d been trying so hard to prevent Sora from reaching you, and meanwhile others had been hard at work trying to bring you back. 

You weren’t quite sure how you’d managed to contact them. Your consciousness had been spread so thinly around that time, and your memory of it was dim. But if your understanding was correct, a little bit of everyone existed in everyone they were connected to. You must have, if only for an instant, brought that connection to life while drifting aimlessly in the void. 

Xion was real to more people than you’d ever realized. 

  


The Twilight Town kids had struck up a conversation with Ventus, and they were getting along like a house on fire. In case Axel joined them, you should probably have Aqua standing by. So that was who you were talking to now. It finally gave you the chance to ask about the armor pieces she and her friends wore. “They’re really pretty. But are they actually useful? Doesn’t seem like they cover much…” 

The Keyblade Master grinned at you, and without a word, brought her right hand up to her left forearm. In a flash of light, she was completely covered in armor. 

Armor. 

Armor just like… 

You didn’t really know what happened. The next thing you knew, you were dangling off the clock tower, with Aqua’s plated hand grasping yours. In your other hand was your Keyblade, which you didn’t remember summoning. You looked up. 

And flinched, almost yanking yourself out of her grip. 

“Xion!” she cried, muffled through her helmet, and her alarm was echoed by the others who were converging on the two of you. You barely heard them, transfixed by the oh-so-familiar armor Aqua was wearing. That was a bad memory, especially in this place… 

“I’ll grab her in the air!” you heard Terra call, and he put a foot on the ledge. You watched in slow motion as he started to raise his right hand to the opposite shoulder. Oh _no…_

“Terra, no! Aqua, get rid of your armor, for fuck’s sake!” 

You’d never been more relieved to hear that voice. Ven’s friends obeyed without hesitation, and shortly after you were pulled back onto the ledge. It was a lot easier now that your mind and body weren’t screaming at you to get away at any cost from the person holding onto you. 

A short explanation later (which Terra had looked increasingly uncomfortable during), followed by a prolonged, inescapable hug from Ventus, you had relaxed and were now mostly embarrassed. You’d damn near gotten yourself killed, and Sora was already off trying to reconstruct one of your comrades. 

After assuring everyone you were alright, you turned to the older girl again. “Um. It did look really cool, it was just a surprise. It’s okay,” you added as Aqua tried to apologize. “You couldn’t have known. So what does it do? I know what it did for _me_, but I don’t think…” You trailed off. 

“It’s supposed to keep darkness out. So you can travel in the lanes between worlds by yourself with minimal risk,” explained Aqua. 

“Keep darkness out? Mine definitely didn’t work, then.” 

She grimaced. “Terra had something similar happen, actually. His armor didn’t protect him from darkness that came from within. But he’s alright now, after everything. And so are you.” 

You smiled. “So… how did you make it?” 

“My Master taught me. It’s just another extension of the Keyblade, really.” 

Hmm. Despite your initial response to seeing it again, you were beginning to imagine just how damn excellent having armor of your own- _really_ your own- would be. “Do you think you could show me?” 

Looking thoughtful, Aqua responded, “No… maybe? It was a long time ago. Longer for me than anyone, I think. It’s a lot to remember.” 

“Master Aqua?” 

“Yes?” 

_“Remember.”_

She laughed. “Alright, alright! Now that I think about it, there’s probably some information on it back home somewhere. I know Ven wanted to show you around sometime… Maybe we could all go together?” 

“I'd love that.” 

You were already planning what you wanted your armor to look like. Black and violet, you thought… and sleek. Certainly nothing like that garish pink and gold clown suit you’d worn while under Xemnas’s control. And maybe a cape? No. No capes. That’d be overdoing it. 

When Aqua answered your question about what Terra had meant by “grab her in the air,” you had something else to plan, too. And get very, _very_ excited about. You were beginning to see why everyone wanted to be a Keyblade Master so badly. 

These thoughts were interrupted by something coming between you and the light of the sunset. Something angular, colorful, and a little silly-looking. 

  


They’d sent you out from the ship to get Naminé. Riku had tried to come too, but Ventus had intercepted him. That boy learned fast. 

You found Naminé sitting in a park, eyes closed, enjoying the sunlight. She opened her eyes when she heard someone approach, and the smile she gave you almost melted you. 

Seconds passed. You needed to say something. You were supposed to fetch her for the beach party, you couldn’t just stand here staring at her all day. 

But wow, you totally _could._

“Hey, uh, girl, we’re-” 

She gave you a look, and you shut your mouth. _“Girl?”_

Oh fuck. “I’m sorry I just kind of said it I don’t know why I didn’t know what else to say I-” You stopped babbling, Naminé was _beaming._ The sight stole your breath away and ran off with it. 

“No, no. It’s… cute. I don’t mind.” 

You knew right then that this girl could kill you all over again and you’d _thank_ her. Oh, no… your face was definitely growing hotter by the second. And was it your imagination, or had her much paler complexion reddened just a touch? 

Wait. These were stupid thoughts. You knew perfectly well what she felt for you. You just had trouble believing it, sometimes. 

You managed to stutter through an explanation and, still smiling, Naminé followed you back to the ship. 

  


So here you were at the beach. At long, long last. You’d had memories of the place as a Nobody… and maybe you’d been here once, then? You still weren’t sure about some of the things that had happened in those first few months of your existence. 

It didn’t matter. You were here now. 

Naminé had gone off to talk to others, which of course you didn’t mind. You spotted her speaking to Donald and Goofy, looking apologetic. She’d deconstructed their memories too, after all. She’d relayed her guilt about that to you while the two of you were talking in the lab, along with so much else. 

Instead, after doing exactly as you’d promised to Isa, you gravitated to the person who you didn’t know at all, the one who was obviously least comfortable to be here. 

“So,” you said casually, plopping down in the sand next to the younger version of Riku who had thankfully put on less comically edgy clothes, “what’s _your_ story? What’s your place in all this?” 

“I wish I knew,” he answered, and went on to give a general overview of his situation. You listened intently. A lot of it was familiar. 

“So now I’m just here, I guess,” he finished. “Riku convinced me to stay, but. Why?” 

“Why not?” 

He stared at you. “Aren’t you a Replica too? Or, you were? How did you become your own person?” 

“I became my own person by existing, Riku. I became who I am by choosing to be.” 

The boy was silent for a long time. 

“…But I don’t know who to _be!_” he wailed, drawing some attention which you waved off. 

Embarrassed, he spoke more quietly. “I can’t be _him._ That feels… wrong.” 

“But do you feel like _someone?_” 

“…Yeah, I guess. But. Not Riku. Or not exactly not Riku, just not…” 

You took a wild guess. Or maybe it wasn’t that wild. “You don’t feel like a boy.” 

His mouth fell open. “How did you…” 

“I was a Replica of a boy, Riku. I’m a girl. Do the math.” 

He did, visibly. “Oh. But… I don’t feel like a girl, either.” 

“Then don’t be either. Or be both. Or be one, if it suits you better down the road. It doesn’t matter. No one who matters is going to care, and if they do, they'll have me to deal with. But it won’t happen. I do get it, though. You were made as a… tool. So was I. But tools don’t think, don’t feel, and certainly don’t have hang-ups about gender. And if it’s a hang-up about gender that’s stopping you from feeling like you deserve to be a person, then tell gender to _go fuck itself._” 

Naminé was wandering away from the others, heading toward the shore. You decided to join her. Standing up, you gave your new friend a pat on the back. “There are weirder stories than yours in this circus. We have a magic talking duck, what’s another wayward clone?” 

The young Riku laughed. “Thanks, Xion.” 

  


“What _was_ that thing you did with Ventus?” 

The two of you were collecting seashells. It had come to you all at once, in a rush. Of course you’d really been to the beach before. You used to do exactly this in your limited spare time. How had you ever let anyone convince you that you weren’t a person? _Things_ didn’t go mucking about in the sand looking for pretty objects. “Well. We’ve been the same person before. It’s sort of a controlled and balanced version of that. We’re a lot more powerful, and we remember… just about everything. It can be a bit too much to handle. But useful.” 

“Interesting.” She sat down, inspecting the shells she’d picked up. “And can you only do it with Ventus, or…?” 

You sat down too, slowly processing what Naminé had just said. What her next question might be. “Why are you asking? And no, I don't think it's limited to us. Might be limited to _me_, though.” 

“Just wondering.” 

That was a lie, and it was probably the first time you’d been pleased to be lied to. Admittedly, it barely counted, since the liar had been intentionally transparent. 

You were distracted from the wave of excitement and happiness when Naminé focused on something behind you and raised her hand to her mouth, eyes shining. You turned. 

Oh. Well how about that. Sora and Kairi were back. 

Except, you understood a moment later, they weren’t. Only one was. 

Your other wasn’t anywhere nearby. You’d sense it if he was. What you were seeing right now… an echo? A vision? A projection of Kairi’s memory? You didn’t know. But Sora wasn’t here. You knew that. 

And when his form dissolved in the sunset, everyone else knew too. 

You sighed and looked mournfully at Naminé. “My other is an idiot.” 

She giggled and stood up. Extending a hand, she asked, “So what are you going to do about it?” 

“Bring him home. Besides, I believe he still owes you something.” You took her hand and hauled yourself to your feet. Reaching out, you summoned your Keyblade. 

Naminé looked thoughtful. “He has thanked me once or twice…” 

“Datascape or alt-timeline nonsense doesn’t count,” you responded as you inspected your weapon. Once, it had been identical to Ventus’s before he remembered himself. Identical to Sora’s. Even now, you bore a blade that Sora had wielded first. 

But it wasn’t Sora’s now, if it ever had been. And you weren’t Sora now, if you ever had been. You were Xion. You’d made sure of that. And it was up to you to save that moron so he could finally, properly thank the girl who had looked after him for so long. He wasn’t going to get away with forgetting, even if you had to drag him out of oblivion yourself. 

“Kairi!” you called as you approached the tree where she still sat, stunned by grief. Naminé followed behind you, smiling wider with every passing moment. You had conveniently forgotten to let go of her hand. 

The red-haired girl you so strongly resembled turned to face you, tears staining her cheeks. It took her a few tries to speak. “What… what is it Xion?” She saw who you were with, and brightened just a little… and then a little more when she glanced downwards. “Naminé! I’m so glad… you both made it…” 

She began to sniffle again. You gave her a nudge. “We’re not letting him get away with this. He doesn’t get to just die like that. Not after how hard we worked to revive him back then.” 

You felt Naminé squeeze your hand, and when you glanced back at the girl who was either already your girlfriend or was going to be _very soon_, she nodded. Oh, good. She was on board. You didn’t think she’d have objected, but she didn’t have a Keyblade… wait. Kairi did, and Lea had learned easily enough, so… 

Huh. Well there was something to think about. Later, though. 

You brought yourself back to the task at hand. Kairi was looking at you now, the faintest glimmers of hope on her face. “But… he’s _gone_.” 

“I’d know if he were really gone. I knew that you weren’t. I may be my own person, but he’s still my other half.” Kairi began to visibly shake. From what, you didn't know. “I can feel him, Kairi. He’s somewhere… somewhere damp and bright, I think.” 

You closed your eyes and focused, reaching out across the connection. Across worlds, across universes. It was weak, and so far away you didn’t have a hope of pulling him to you. But a shaky, grainy vision entered your mind of wet black asphalt and blinding city lights and a pale full moon… and Sora was there. He was unconscious. Asleep again. _Of course._ But wait, there was something else… 

There was another figure hovering above Sora’s prone form. A boy. A _winged_ boy who, even through the static, looked just _insufferably_ smug. Ha! You hadn’t been awake for that, but you’d seen it in his memory when you were pulled out of him back in the dream world. 

You opened your eyes and smiled. You had Kairi’s complete attention now, and you met her unsteady gaze. “I don’t know where he is,” her burgeoning smile started to droop, “but I know who does.” It returned, brighter and stronger, her eyes lighting up. “And I know where _that_ person was not too long ago.” 

“Where?!” 

You laughed. “You should know how this works by now. Where else but Traverse Town? Come on, let’s go!” 

Kairi took your proffered hand, though only as long as it took to get down from the tree. She summoned her Keyblade, flowers springing into existence out of nothing, and then hesitated. “Thank you… you don’t have to come with me. Just tell me who to look for.” 

“We’re going, Kairi. _You’re_ coming with _us_.” 

“Why?” 

To hell with it. “Sora owes my girlfriend something.” 

Naminé laughed out loud, and you didn’t think you’d ever heard a more beautiful sound. She didn’t say anything, just squeezed your hand again and then carefully laced her fingers in yours. You didn’t dare look at her. You might just combust here and now if you did, and then who would rescue Sora? 

You really loved having a heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not crying. You’re crying.
> 
> Okay, maybe we’re both crying.
> 
> The Veion thing came late into this fic’s development, a couple days after I’d posted the second chapter. Like every brilliant writing idea I’ve ever had, it struck me all at once at five in the fucking morning. Like, specifically 5am. Why is it always 5am? Anyway, it’s objectively rad as hell, and the more I think about it the more perfect it is as a close to her arc and as a counterpoint to Sora. Third eye _wide_ open over here.
> 
> Speaking of Veion, I managed to contain the obligatory Homestuck references to their first scene. An astute reader would recognize the parallels I drew between the two metanarratives, as well as the borrowed fusion mechanics. (Love them squared sprites.) Plus one just. Absolutely terrible, hideously bad joke. Wonder if anyone can spot it. But I swear that I’m not going to try to make Homestuck part of this multiverse. Tempting, but no. Maybe one day, in another fic… nah probably not. Xion is a Muse of Void, though, it’s important that I say that. Or at least canon Xion is. Not so much this Xion. Same aspect, different class.
> 
> Oh, and note the changed number of chapters. There’s a short epilogue coming. Very short, unless I get carried away, which isn’t impossible. But rest assured that it will be exactly as long as it needs to be.


	4. A Single Day

It was a brief break in the chaos. It also happened to be one of Naminé’s bad days. 

You both had them, now and again. You would find bottomless despair or burning rage at the forefront of your being, and have to work to remind yourself that while everything wasn’t perfect, you could be certain that you were your own person and that you deserved to exist. It wasn’t quite enough, sometimes. Darkness and sleep were never that far away, but that was part of living. You always found the dawn again. And you never had to do it alone. 

Naminé’s condition was harsher. Where her abilities had come from exactly, no one knew. Just like no one could quite explain Sora’s power to chase down hearts across worlds and recomplete them, or yours to bring them forth and make them part of you. Even Riku’s near-immunity to darkness was totally unique to him, as far as anyone could tell. A piece of Terra had lived in a suit of armor for a decade. Ventus was a person with no darkness in his heart whatsoever, something you could believe but that so many would say is impossible. But the impossible, and even the ridiculous, was something all of you were used to. 

But Naminé… As she knew only too well, memory is a cruel thing. As time passed, you felt that even the healed scars of what you endured were beginning to fade. You had the privilege of forgetting. She didn’t. She couldn’t. Not as a Nobody, and not as a Somebody. Her own pain, and that of so many others, stayed with her. 

It wasn’t hopeless. Keeping herself in the moment and focusing on her own memories was doable. It just took effort, and some days it took more effort than others. She’d said it had been getting easier to manage. Very, very slowly. 

You had an idea. It was something you’d put off trying, as initially, you’d thought it would only make it worse. Now, you weren’t so sure that was true. Maybe it was worth the risk? 

She was curled up, her head in your lap. Occasionally, she would flinch or shudder, and you wondered whose memory, and of what, had just crossed her mind. When Sora lost Kairi the first time? When you felt Xemnas sink his claws into your being, making you into the puppet he wanted? Or her own anguish as she was forced to do so much harm to two people who her Somebody loved so dearly? 

“Witch,” you said softly, and she stirred. It had been just “girl” for a while, based on what your panicked brain had spat out that day. But Naminé, while refusing to use a Keyblade for reasons she kept to herself, had taken to relying on elemental power. You had done so once, too, and of course Aqua was never out of reach. The Master was at her happiest when teaching. So, soon enough, “witch” it had become. 

“Xion?” No pet name for you could possibly match the simple joy you still felt at hearing your real name spoken out loud. 

“I think I might be able to help.” 

She opened her eyes, red-rimmed and weary. “How?” 

  


Naminé, too, had been apprehensive once you described the convergence of memory that occurred when you used this ability. She’d let the idea drop some time ago, and so had you. It hadn’t bothered either of you to do so. But when you timidly raised it again, as a possible if temporary solution to her suffering, she seized onto it like a lifeline. 

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” 

At some level, this wasn’t how you wanted this to happen. You’d pictured some romantic, or possibly desperate, moment. But maybe this was both of those. It wasn’t the worst of her days. It wasn’t the worst of yours, either. Yet, there was a calm mundanity to it all that felt so precious. And no matter what, even if it became too much very quickly, there would be a perfect instant for Naminé to remember forever. You gave her the briefest of kisses on the forehead, and then concentrated. 

Moments later, a girl named Xiné drew her first breaths. 

They were shaky ones. Much faster than it had for Veion- likely due to Naminé’s influence- your mind had begun to open up to the possibilities. And they were blinding. You shut your eyes, for all the good it did. 

You almost parted right away. Naminé couldn’t handle this. 

But she could, a piece of you insisted. The instant you understood that you were _only_ Xion and Naminé, that the traumas belonging to your friends had been left behind, you knew what to do. 

It was simple. Naminé couldn’t lock away her own excess recollections without wiping out the same experiences for other people. But the roads not taken had no people walking down them, or at least, none you could reach. So, carefully and precisely, you went about breaking the links in the chains of memory. 

Gradually, the pressure lessened. What had started as a splitting- quite literally- headache dwindled to almost nothing. And eventually, you were left with just… you. The core of your being. Who Naminé was, and who Xion was. And who you were, as Xiné. That was it. No more, and no less. 

You weren't at all what either Naminé or Xion had expected. The first had believed, despite what Xion had said, that she would have an independent voice. And while sometimes thoughts seemed to come from one side or another, this was not the case. You were one person, and right now, Naminé did not exist. And Xion… she had only done this with one other person before and had made assumptions based on that. Ventus was, though he only had some vague awareness of it in his normal state, a very old soul. He had seen and done so much more than Xion, and as Veion, his being overshadowed hers. Xion hadn’t had any way to recognize that. But Xion and Naminé had existed for about the same amount of time, and you were far more balanced. 

But the real difference was that the bonds between Ventus and Xion were so deeply unlike those between Xion and Naminé. The first were forged of camaraderie, of combat, a being brought forth to strike down a mutual foe. Veion was brash, and powerful, and wielded their combined fury against the injustice in the world. But you… you had been created because Xion couldn’t stand to see Naminé hurting. You had been allowed to be thanks to Naminé’s trust in her. You were calm, and ordinary, and peaceful. 

You were a being of love. Xion’s and Naminé’s, yes, but not only the feelings they had for each other. There was more than enough room in their hearts for others, too. And unlike either of them, you could admit it to yourself. You couldn’t not. It defined who you were. 

Naminé harbored a small flame for Riku, and even a confused, guilty one for his other self. But both would need time. Riku, to finally sort out his situation with Sora and Kairi. And his former Replica, to catch up and figure out who they wanted to be. 

Whereas Xion would be lying if she said she hadn’t found Aqua to be, in a word, breathtaking. Maybe in a few years. 

Years… you had years. _Decades._

Well, you specifically might not. You weren’t going to be Xiné forever, no part of you wanted that. But Xion and Naminé did have all that time. You loved them, and yourself, with all your hearts. 

There was one piece of linked memory you had kept, and that was because it was the same memory over and over and over again. No matter how wildly things diverged, no matter how screwy the timeline, Xion and Naminé _had still ended up next to each other on that beach._ Sometimes, it had been their first time speaking since Xion had left the mansion to face Axel a lifetime ago. Sometimes, others had joined them. But there was no scenario where the two of them hadn’t been drawn to each other. Holding onto that was worth having to take a moment to remember which instance belonged to you. 

You recalled that there was something you wanted to do. A part of you had been waiting for this occasion for a long time. 

Raising your left hand, you summoned Naminé’s Keyblade. Of course she had one. Originally, you supposed it had been just a copy of Kairi’s, but this one was truly hers now. 

Opening your eyes, you saw yourself clutching a glossy, translucent crystalline weapon. Swirling designs reminiscent of flowers echoed her other's, but every blossom was pale as ice, as white as the corridors of Castle Oblivion. It was lit from within by faint arcs of blue light, flaring into view and then out again. It was beautiful. 

And then you let it vanish. Naminé had wanted to share the moment with Xion, but there was nothing to fight here. This was an interlude, a brief period of peace in the chaos that ruled the lives of the defenders of light. 

You let yourself be. 

  


Some time later, for no particular reason, you were Xion again. You turned to the girl at your side, three words echoing in your mind. 

You didn’t need to say it. You had just experienced it. But there was one thing Xiné couldn’t do, that the two of you could. 

It wasn’t your first kiss. That had happened moments after you’d first called her your girlfriend. You’d started to head back to the others, to let them know where the three of you were going, and the moment you’d faced her she’d taken the initiative. Maybe it hadn’t been the _best_ time, but it had gotten a laugh out of a still-shaky Kairi, and a certain amount of cheering from the beach. 

It wasn’t your second, either. Or your third. You had lost track, though certainly Naminé hadn’t. She couldn’t. That, at least, was probably something she didn’t mind. 

It wasn’t particularly exceptional. No fireworks, no triumphant music, no sudden, magical healing. That’s not how life works. As you separated, you saw that Naminé was still tired. The memories had come back, and these she couldn’t cut herself away from without harming others. It was still going to be a day spent in the calm and quiet, letting the bad times run their course. But this had helped. 

Tomorrow would be another day. You had so many to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, this fanfic completes the journey from the original concept, which was really just about Xion, to being a definite Namixi fic. I’d never written anything even vaguely substantial in terms of romance before. Maybe that was obvious?
> 
> Writing this has been a weird experience. A lot of it was conceived and nearly all of it was written during one of the scariest parts of my life, and that part hasn’t actually ended as of writing. I am not really safe right now. It could be a long time before I am, much less _feel_ that way again. But I think I’m prouder of this than anything else I’ve ever done, and writing it helped take my mind off things. I suppose that was the purpose, in the end. I wrote this for me, because I needed it.
> 
> Maybe, when the story of Kingdom Hearts picks up again in like thirty fucking years, I’ll return to this. If I have a cool idea. (<strike>I may well make some edits after the DLC for III drops.</strike> Edit: not needed, sadly. Xion didn't get much. But I still might mess with stuff later. I never really stop tinkering with the things I write.) If not, I’m content to let Xion have her happy ending.
> 
> Alright, that’s enough babble. I’m signing off here. Thanks for reading, folks.


End file.
